In Love and War
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Chris's best friend Jaina comes to the past to warn him about Bianca's betrayal. Takes place before and during ChrisCrossed. Complete.
1. Jaina

Author's Note: Sorry if this isn't following Chris's character very well; I keep missing the episodes of "the Chris years."

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Jaina

Blue eyes wide, Jaina Cromwell listened to the demons as they entered the discussion with Wyatt Halliwell. Inwardly, she cringed when she looked at her best friend's older brother. Years had passed Wyatt Halliwell, the boy that she had practically grown up with, had disappeared. And in his place a new person was born: Lord Wyatt, ruler of the Underworld.

Eight years had passed since the death of the Charmed Ones and she and Chris were forced to grow up too quickly in a world that was torn apart by war. Magic had been exposed and mortals lived in fear for their very lives. When Jaina and Chris had formed the Resistance, she had been a girl of sixteen, barely even a woman yet. Now, six years later, she was the head of the Resistance, the only leader now that Chris had disappeared into the past in one last attempt to save his brother.

She missed him like crazy, but Jaina refused to even dwell on that because she knew that he was going to bring their world back to peace, back to what it had been before Chris's mom, Piper, and her sisters, Phoebe and Paige, had been killed. Even now, eight years later, there was still some speculation about their deaths. Many claimed that they had died by a demon, but some suspected that they had died at the hands of the firstborn, the eldest son of the eldest Charmed One, Wyatt.

Personally, Jaina believed the latter. Especially since Wyatt's downfall had progressed more rapidly after their deaths. Her heart ached every time she thought about it. Piper, the woman who had been like her mother. Phoebe, who was her confidant and adviser. Paige, who had taught her and Chris what being a Whitelighter meant.

They had been her family after her Whitelighter father skipped town on her witch mother when she was pregnant, never to be seen or heard from again, and her mom ditched her when she was six. Piper had been generous and taken her in, given her a home, brought her up like the daughter that she never had. She and Chris had been best friends since then, but from the moment that she had met him, she had fallen for him, felt feelings deeper than she had felt for anyone, feelings much further than the love that exists between best friends.

As Wyatt started to conduct the meeting, Jaina pulled herself back into the present. Since the formation of Wyatt's dominion and the formation of the Resistance, she had on and off posed as a Darklighter, allowing her get into Wyatt's meetings easily.

"As most of you know, the Resistance leader Christopher has undergone a mission that has threatened our entire world," he began. "A mission to the past that will stop me from becoming as powerful as I am now. Now, I have decided to send someone to retrieve him. Which brings me to our new arrival. Send her in," he barked at one of the demons, who hurried outside to bring in the person who would be bringing Chris to the future.

Jaina's heart plummeted as the young woman clad in black leather came in, her cool gaze looking around the room. "A phoenix," she heard the Darklighter next to her mutter.

"Bianca," Jaina said quietly, but nobody heard her as the phoenix assassin Bianca—and Chris's fiancée—knelt beside Wyatt before getting to her feet. Fury flew through her, nearly blinding her. How could she betray Chris? He had given her everything, including his heart!

"This is Bianca, a phoenix assassin," Wyatt said, almost in a bored tone. "She has been given the assignment to bring Christopher back here. If she fails, then I will be sending more after him, to kill him next time. Bianca, you have my permission to leave. As do the rest of you."

As the meeting adjourned, Jaina stepped out into the hallway, breathing heavily, her heart hammering in her chest. This was going to kill Chris, she thought suddenly, whether by Wyatt or his own grief. She had to go after him herself. She had to warn him.

Without even thinking twice, she orbed out back to the Resistance headquarters, feeling the potion that turned a Whitelighter orbs black wear off as she did so.

When she arrived back, Chris's cousin Patience looked around at her. "How did it go?" she wanted to know.

"Terrible," Jaina said, tossing the black jacket onto her bed. "Bianca's betrayed us, Pat. And Wyatt's sending her after Chris to bring him back here or kill him if the task proves too difficult."

Patience's brown eyes that were so much like her mother's, Phoebe, were wide by the time that Jaina had finished. "What are we going to do?" she asked, ready as she always was to face Wyatt's army. Armed only with her Halliwell blood, Patience was capable of defeating twelve demon clans single-handedly.

"We aren't going to do anything," Jaina said firmly. When Patience opened her mouth to speak, Jaina interrupted her. "Listen, Pat, I have an idea, but it's going to take time. I am not going to let Bianca take Chris; when he finds out about this, it's going to kill him. I have to go back and warn him about what's happening. But I don't know if I'm going to be able to get back here after that, so I'm leaving you in charge of the Resistance."

Patience's mouth dropped open. "But Jaina," she protested, "what if Bianca gets there before you?"

"Then I'm just going to have to pray that Chris will be all right," Jaina replied.

Several hours later, the Resistance had been informed about Bianca and Jaina was preparing for her trip to the past, drawing the Triquetra on the wall of her room. "Tell my mom I love her, won't you?" Patience said as she watched Jaina.

"I will," Jaina said with a smile. "If I can get around to it without Chris freaking out about future consequences."

Patience snorted, but she smiled wryly at Jaina. "You're in love with him, aren't you?" she wanted to know. Jaina swivelled her head to look at her. "Chris. That's why you're going to do all of this just to protect him from getting hurt, isn't it? It's not just because he's your best friend, Jaina; it's because you're in love with him."

Jaina stared at her. "Chris?" she repeated, trying to keep her emotions under control. "I am not in love with—"

She stopped as Patience grinned at her. It was always so frustrating when Patience was so accurate about stuff. The girl got it from her mom, who was an empath. Patience had the same gift. "Is it that obvious?" Jaina asked.

"About as obvious as you hating Bianca because you're in love with him," Patience replied and winked. "Don't worry, I won't tell him when he gets back. 'Course, if you go all the way to the past and don't tell Chris what your true feelings are, I'm going to be really mad. I'd rather have you as a cousin-in-law than Bianca, personally."

"Thanks, Pat," Jaina sighed and looked at the piece of paper that she had managed to tear out of the Book of Shadows before she left. Hopefully, Wyatt wouldn't remember the spell. "Okay here goes:

_Hear these words, hear the rhyme._

_Heed the hope within my mind._

_Send me back to where I'll find_

_What I wish in place and time._"

The Triquetra glowed a mixture of blue colours and Jaina took only one glance back at Patience before hurling herself forward into the portal. She heard people and voices around her before she was expelled onto the floor of the attic in the Halliwell manor.

Landing with a thud, Jaina glanced up around the attic, trying to figure out when she was. Spotting the Book of Shadows standing where it had been her entire life before Piper and her sister had died, Jaina made a silent cheer of triumph.

Hearing the sounds of somebody coming, she took one last look around the attic and orbed out. She had to find Chris before Bianca did. Otherwise, she didn't know what was going to happen.


	2. Future Girl

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Future Girl

"Come on, Piper," Chris pleaded, looking exasperated. "We need to vanquish this demon! You would think that you would want to, considering that it's your son that it's danger!"

"Yeah, and normally, I would have no problem with that," Piper replied as she fed Wyatt his supper, "but Chris, we have been on this demon hunt for a few months now and nothing has happened, except more stress. I think that we all deserve one night that is just demon-free, worry-free and magic-free. It is just one night."

"You know how much can happen in just one night?" Chris shot back, frustrated. "Loads. Wyatt could get kidnapped by demons in just one night and they could do who knows what to him. How are you going to feel about not vanquishing this demon then?"

Piper shook her head. "Anyway, the demon needs the Power of Three to be vanquished and Paige is out with Richard and Phoebe is working on her column. I don't want to interrupt them."

About to open his mouth to say something, Chris suddenly heard a loud thump coming from the attic. Looking around at the woman who would be his mother in the future, he asked, "Did you hear that?"

Without saying a word, she walked past him, hurrying up the stairs towards the attic, Chris at her heels. When they arrived there, there was nobody there. Piper looked around at him. "You did hear something up here, didn't you?" she wanted to know, her hands on her hips and she frowned slightly.

Chris nodded, but he sensed a presence, a presence that he hadn't felt since he arrived here in the past. There was an orb path here that had just vanished perhaps seconds before they had gotten up here.

"Yeah, there was somebody up here," he said slowly, the image of a certain red-haired, blue-eyed witch-Whitelighter appearing in his mind. Jaina couldn't possibly be here, could she? And if she was, what was she doing here? "You know, Piper, on second thought, maybe the demon could wait until tomorrow."

Just as Piper opened her mouth to say something, Chris orbed out, following the trail until he arrived on the Golden Gate Bridge. Jaina Cromwell was standing there, her red hair flying out behind her as she looked around at him. "Took you long enough," she said in a humorous tone. "What did it take you so long for? You usually have promptness down."

Shaking his head, Chris asked, "Did you ever realise that you never give me a greeting, always an accusation?"

Jaina only smiled. "Of course. How else can I keep you on your toes?" she asked, her blue eyes twinkling. After a minute, she rushed forward into his arms. "It's so good to see you."

"It's great to see you, too," he said, holding her close. War was starting to take its toll on her, he realised as he inspected his oldest and best friend. Her vivid blue eyes had dimmed down from their once bright and laughing state; her bright red curls which as a child had been wild and untameable had flattened themselves down; her skin, which had always been pale, was now so pallid that she looked like a ghost; she was now so thin that he could see her ribs starting to stick out. "But Jaina, I thought that we agreed that I was going to be the only one to be jumping in and out of time portals."

Jaina frowned. "Well, I would have kept to that agreement if your lunatic brother wasn't trying to kill you!" she retorted. When Chris raised his eyebrows in question, she sighed. "Chris, look, I am on your side, okay?"

"I know that, Jaina," he grumbled, hating it when she danced around the truth. Because whenever she did that was when it was usually pretty bad. "Now what is going on?"

"Wyatt's sending an assassin after you," Jaina said with a sigh. Chris stared. His brother was always sending an assassin after him. Why was that so different? When she realised that he didn't get it, she added, "A phoenix assassin."

Now Chris was with her. "Bianca?" he asked hoarsely, shock radiating through him. Jaina nodded, her almond blue eyes meeting his jade ones. "But—but that's not possible . . . she—she's different now, Jaina. Good. How could she be . . ."

Sitting down on the bridge, Jaina propped her hands on her knees so that they were holding her head. "I've seen her," she told him, "during one of my espionages in Wyatt's meetings. He didn't give the full details during the meeting, but I could see that he's turned her back. Completely, Chris. Anything that was good in her is now gone now."

Slowly, Chris sat down beside her, his mind spinning with this revelation. His fiancée, the woman that he loved with his entire heart, who had left everything she had known behind to be with him, was now his enemy and was coming to kill him? It seemed altogether too surreal.

"Chris?" Jaina said softly and he looked, seeing her blue eyes filled with concern. "Chris, please, talk to me." She was always worrying about him, he thought with a smile as he pulled her against him. Jaina sighed but leaned into the embrace.

"I don't know what to say," Chris said finally. "Just . . . Jaina, are you sure that she's not just playing along, like Prue and Penny were?" He named two of his cousins that had been killed by Wyatt when he discovered their betrayal. That had been about four years ago, he thought.

"I'm sure," Jaina said firmly. "I wouldn't be here warning you about it if I wasn't." She bit her lip. "Chris, I am so sorry."

"Not your fault," Chris said with a sigh, trying to hide his feelings from her. He didn't want her worrying about her any more than she already did. "Who did you leave in charge of the Resistance, anyway?"

"Uh, Patience," Jaina answered. "They should be fine under her guidance until we get back."

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "We?" he echoed, not sure if he had heard her right.

Jaina glared at him. "Did you actually think that I was going to leave you here alone, Christopher?" she demanded, folding her arms across her chest. She gave him a look that was so reminiscent of his mom that he had to laugh. "What so funny?"

"You," Chris said, still laughing. "I think you spent too long with Mom, Jaya. That look that you gave me was just like her." The corners of her mouth twitched and she smiled reluctantly, allowing him to hold her in his arms tightly.

"It is so good to hear you call me 'Jaya' again, Chris," she said softly. Chris smiled and kissed her on the forehead, holding his best friend close. Jaya had been his personal name for her growing up. Everyone else had just called her Jaina.

Chris looked up, startled, when he saw white orbs appear on the bridge. Jaina frowned slightly when she saw them, certain that she knew who was about to materialise. And that was one of the people that she hated most in the future.

"What's going on here?" Leo asked when he appeared, staring at the Whitelighter from the future. Then he saw the redheaded girl staring defiantly back at him. "Who are you?"

"From the future," she retorted and fell silent at the warning look in Chris's eyes.

Leo rolled his eyes, not looking happy. "Not another one," he muttered, glaring at his least favourite Whitelighter. "Don't tell me that you're just as neurotic as him."

"Did you need something, Leo?" Chris asked, seeing that Jaina was practically seething with rage. She had an even worse opinion of the Elder than Chris did—if that were possible—mostly because of the way that he had treated Chris in the future.

"Piper wanted to know why you took off the way that you did and what you knew about whoever was in the attic," Leo answered. "Guess that was you?" he added to Jaina, looking over the witch-Whitelighter girl from the future suspiciously.

The glare that she gave him was enough of a reply. "Look, she just came to warn me about something, okay?" Chris said calmly. "She didn't do anything. I'll be back in a few minutes."

With a sigh, the Elder orbed out, leaving the two witch-Whitelighters from the future alone once again on the bridge. "Sorry, Jaya," Chris muttered as Jaina shook her head in exasperation. "I got to go talk to the sisters. Where are you going to be staying, anyway?"

"Haven't decided yet," Jaina answered, getting to her feet. "But I'll let you know the minute that I do." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Call if anything happens, all right?"

Chris grinned and orbed out, leaving her alone on the bridge. With a sigh, Jaina leaned against one of the railings, staring up into the night sky, twinkling with stars. "I love you, Chris," she murmured, then shook her head, disgusted with herself. "Why can't I ever say it to his face?"


	3. Questions and More Questions

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Questions and More Questions

Leo couldn't believe it. In fact, he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't heard it with his own ears. There was somebody else from the future here. It wasn't like it wasn't bad enough with just Chris here, he had pretty much destroyed his and the Halliwells lives. What was going to happen with another Whitelighter from the future?

Taking his chances that Chris was gone, Leo orbed back to the bridge only to find the future girl standing there, staring at the place where Chris had been when he had orbed out.

"I love you, Chris," she said. Leo started, disbelief surging through him. Then the girl shook her head, her red hair flying into her face, obviously disgusted. "Why can't I ever say it to his face?" she wondered out loud.

His mouth dropping open, Leo gaped at the future girl as she walked to the edge of the bridge, dropping into a cross-legged position and staring gloomily out into the horizon. She was in love with Chris? In was impossible, two Whitelighters to be together, but then again so was a witch and a Whitelighter.

Deciding to talk to her, Leo emerged from his hiding place, his footsteps clattering against the metal bridge. The girl looked up as soon as he neared. "What do you want, Leo?" she asked, looking none too happy to see him. Okay, obviously she wasn't that big of a fan of his in the future, he decided.

"I just want to talk," he explained, taking a seat beside her. She glared at him, but relented. "Why did you come here from the future to warn Chris?"

She shrugged. "He's my best friend," she answered. "I think that's a good enough reason to warn him that his life's in danger. How come you've got such a problem with my being here?"

"So you're going to answer my question in exchange for asking a question?" Leo said, shaking his head. The girl smiled for the first time and nodded. "Fair enough. And I don't, really, not if you're really here to help. But Chris has caused enough problems so you can understand if I don't trust another Whitelighter from the future."

"Witch-Whitelighter," the girl corrected automatically. When Leo raised his eyes in question, she explained, "My mom was a witch and my dad was a Whitelighter, all right? And what kind of problems has Chris caused? All he's trying to do is save Wyatt. Shouldn't that be enough for you to trust him, considering he's trying to save your son?"

"But some of the ways that Chris carries out his plans . . ." Leo shook his head. "It'd be a lot easier if there wasn't all this future consequences stuff and he didn't manipulate and lie to us all the time."

"Look, I hate to break it to you, but Chris always does things for a reason," she informed him. "I've known him since I was six years old and never once has he done something unless he really, really thought it was for the right reason."

"What reason on Earth could he have for sending me to Valhalla?" Leo retorted and saw a flicker of surprise cross the girl's face. Obviously, she hadn't expected that. "You didn't know about that?"

Shaking her head, the girl said, "No, but I guess that I should've been expecting that." When Leo raised his eyebrows in question, she sighed. "Look, not that it's my place to say, but there's something that happens in the future that you need the skills that people learn on Valhalla. I'm assuming that you learnt the skills on Valhalla?"

"Yes," Leo grumbled, his patience wearing thin. "But what is going to happen?"

The girl grinned. "I think I'll plead to Chris's favourite phrase now," she said with a laugh. Leo rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling. She was all right, this future girl. Maybe a little manipulative, but not so much as Chris.

"What's your name?" Leo finally asked. "You never did tell me your name."

Letting out a sigh, the girl tugged on a strand of red hair, twirling it around her finger. "My name is Jaina, if you must know. Jaina Cromwell."

"Jaina Cromwell," Leo repeated slowly, mulling this over. He couldn't think of any witches or Whitelighters whose name was Cromwell. "Well, can you tell me exactly what Chris is looking for to save Wyatt?"

Jaina rolled her eyes. "If he knew then he would've just killed the demon whose after him and came home," she told him. "We don't know exactly who's after him, we just know that someone is after him and it's going to happen sometime before—"

Stopping in midsentence, Jaina suddenly stood up, walking away from him. "Sometime before what?" Leo asked, curiosity filling through him.

"Never mind," Jaina snapped. Without another word, she disappeared in a series of white lights. But Leo was filled with even more questions than he had been before.

--

Piper glanced up as Chris orbed in, looking around at the room at large until he spotted her. "Leo said you want to talk to me?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"You know who was in the attic, don't you?" she wanted to know, staring down the young Whitelighter. Chris had the grace to look ashamed, staring down at his shoes. "Well, who is it? And more importantly, should we be worried about it?"

"No," Chris said firmly, looking back up at her. "You don't need to worry about her. She's just . . . my best friend from the future came here to warn me about someone whose going to be coming after me. Someone who I thought was a friend," he added more to himself than to his future mother.

"Your best friend?" Piper echoed, not at all sure whether she had heard him right. "But what would she be coming here to warn you about?"

"It's kind of hard to explain, but there's some people in the future that don't want me to succeed and now they're sending someone who I cared about after me to try and stop me from saving him. Which is what Jaina came here to tell me."

"Can this Jaina be trusted?" Piper said and received a look of fury from him in reply. He cared about her a lot, she realised as she looked at his jade eyes in surprise. Probably more than he himself realised. "All right, all right, I'm sorry."

"She's the only person that I trust more than anybody else in the future," Chris retorted. "She's one of the few people that have been there for me in eight years."

"Where is she staying at?" Piper asked, frowning. Jaina . . . for some reason, she thought that she knew that name. Either that or she felt like she should know it. "And is she a Whitelighter?"

Chris hesitated, but upon seeing the warning look in his future mom's eyes, he decided to tell her the truth. "Kind of," he admitted and Piper's eyebrows raised in question. "She's . . . like Paige. Witch mother, Whitelighter father. And I don't really know where she's staying. Look, when you meet, do me a favour, will you? Be nice to her. From the looks of things, she's been through a lot after I left."

Piper smiled ruefully. "All right, I will," she assured him. "I promise, I'll be as kind as her own mother."

"Don't do that," Chris warned her. "Her mother ditched her when she was a kid." Without another word, he headed out of the room, heading up to the attic to do some more research on whoever turned Wyatt.


	4. Future Revelations

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: Future Revelations

Materialising in the same park that they had buried the sisters at in the future, Jaina walked over to a bench and stretched out across it, staring up at the stars in frustration.

Why did the man have to be so . . . so infuriating! Why did he have to start asking her all those questions about her and Chris?

Okay, granted, she had answered them, but he still didn't deserve to be asking them. From the sound of it, Chris wasn't exactly his favourite person.

_Guess that's not going to be changing anytime soon in the future,_ she thought angrily. Why did he have to hate Chris so much? Why couldn't he just have be the father to Chris that he was to Wyatt instead of favouring one son over there other? If he hadn't treated her best friend so badly in the future, then she wouldn't have such a big problem with the Elder. If Leo had just listened to Chris and just came whenever he needed his father, then Piper would still be there . . . the sisters would still be alive . . .

Flashback

_"Piper?" fourteen-year-old Jaina called as she wandered into the kitchen. To her great surprise, her foster mother had abandoned the cake that she baking for Chris's party later and was talking to someone. Jaina groaned inwardly as she saw Leo Wyatt, Chris and Wyatt's father. There was no mistaking him; he looked just like Wyatt. _

_"Who's this?" Leo asked, looking surprised as he looked around at her. "She Paige or Phoebe's girl?" _

_"No," Piper said, glaring at him. They seemed to be having a heated argument. "Jaina, sweetie, did you need something?" _

_Jaina shrugged. "Just wanted to know if you needed any help," she answered. "Chris is out with Paige and Phoebe, so . . ." _

_"If you want to go set up the decorations in the sunroom, that would be a big help, honey," Piper told her, smiling at her foster daughter. Jaina grinned and went to go do as Piper had suggested when she turned around to look at Leo. _

_"So," she said conversationally, "are you actually going to come to your younger son's party or are you just going to do like you usually do and bail on him and send him a note of apology with promises that you don't intend to keep?" _

_Glaring at Jaina, Leo responded, "Listen . . . Jaina, was it?" When neither of the girls answered, he continued, "I wasn't exactly planning on going to this party. There are other things that I need to do. If you were a little older, then maybe you'd understand. I have responsibilities as an Elder—" _

_"Responsibilities as an Elder?" Jaina exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. "How about your responsibilities as a father? Or a husband for that matter? In case you haven't noticed, Leo, you've got two sons, not just one." _

_Ignoring whatever response the Elder was going to give her, Jaina stalked away into the sunroom. Only a few minutes had went by when Piper came into the room. "I think maybe that was one of the best lectures that Leo's ever gotten," she remarked. _

_Jaina laughed. "Sorry about that," she said. "It just really makes me mad me when he bails on Chris. It's not like he does that to Wyatt or you for that matter." _

_Piper sighed. "I know," she admitted. "I don't understand it either myself. Trust me, there's been a couple of times when I've thought about blowing him up." _

_"So why don't you?" Jaina grumbled. "It's not like he won't be able to reform or anything. At least you'd be getting the message across." _

_Smiling humourlessly at her foster daughter, Piper said softly, "Well, somehow, I don't think that's going to help matters much." Jaina looked towards Piper, but the eldest Charmed One was already heading back into the kitchen. _

_A little bit perturbed by this, Jaina thought about questioning her foster mother further, but decided against it. There would be plenty of time to talk to her later about bringing Leo back here and knocking some sense into the Elder. _

_Jaina would soon find out just how wrong she was. _

--

_Chris was opening presents later that day when suddenly Phoebe got "the Look" on her face. The one that she always got whenever she got a premonition. "Phoebes?" Piper said, looking around at her sister. Paige, Jaina, and Chris too looked around at her. "What's the matter? What'd did you see?" _

_Jaina noticed that her foster aunt was looking pale, her eyes wide with shock. "Wyatt," she said at last. The eldest Charmed son had declined from being at the party, saying that he had some things that he needed to take care of. "I saw him—" _

_Whatever Phoebe saw, Jaina never found out. Without warning, a demon came bursting in through the window, not bothering with pleasantries before starting to attack. _

_"Chris! Jaina!" Piper yelled as she attempted to blow him up. "Get out of here, get help!" _

_Just as Chris seized Jaina's hand, another demon shimmered in, throwing an athame into Piper's back. "MOM!" Chris screamed, flying towards her side. _

_At their nephew's shout, the two younger Charmed Ones whirled around. Phoebe let out a strangled cry when she saw her elder sister lying on the floor, blood flowing through her white shirt. "Piper!" _

_"Phoebe, Paige, look out!" Jaina shouted, seeing the demon throw an energy ball towards the sisters. Her warning came too late, throwing both sisters backwards into the wall. When they hit the ground, they laid motionless and still. _

_"No!" Chris yelled, looking horror stricken at his two fallen aunts. "Guys, come back! Please . . ." His jade eyes were wide and fearful and Jaina didn't do much better. _

_"Dad!" Chris yelled, staring up at the ceiling. "Dad, please, Mom needs you! Wyatt! Wyatt, come back here, please! Somebody, help!" _

_Jaina felt tears pouring down her face as Piper opened her eyes, staring up at her son and foster daughter. "Chris," she gasped, reaching up and touching her younger son's cheek tenderly. "Don't give up . . . my baby boy . . . don't give into him. Make me proud. I love you." _

_"I love you, Mom," Chris told her, crying by now. "Please, hang on. Don't leave me, please . . ." _

_Piper didn't answer this, only turned her eyes towards Jaina. "Don't lose him," she told her softly. Before Jaina could even decipher the meaning of her words, Piper was gone. And Jaina had been orphaned for the third time. _

**End Flashback**

Jaina hadn't realised that she had started to cry as she had relived the most horrific day of her life. The day that the only family that she had ever known was ripped away from her.

She had known, all along, what Jaina's true feelings towards Chris were. Piper always knew. Not even Phoebe, the empath, had understood that Jaina was in love with Chris. "Don't lose him," she had told Jaina wit her dying breath.

But she already had. Jaina had lost Chris to Bianca a long time ago. "Why can't anything ever be simple in my life?" she wondered out loud, staring up at the starry night. "Why does everything always have to come with complications?"

However, the stars were as silent as stones, providing Jaina with no answers to her questions and no idea of where to go from here.


	5. Meeting the Sisters

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: Meeting the Sisters

Walking through the crowd at P3, Jaina spotted the sisters sitting at the bar, talking. She restrained the urge to rush up to them and hug them as she stared at the three women who would be her family in the future. Before they were ripped away from her, that was.

Piper, the eldest Charmed One, was sitting next to Phoebe. Paige, the youngest and half-Whitelighter, was on Phoebe's other side, her hair dyed red, which made Jaina smile a bit. The last time that she had seen Paige, her hair had been dyed a dark brown. All three of the sisters were younger than she was used to, but it was close. The closest that she'd had in eight years.

Paige, as if sensing Jaina's gaze, turned around and looked straight at her, brown eyes meeting blue ones. _Don't choke up now, Jaina,_ she told herself. Taking a deep breath, she walked unsteadily towards the sisters. "Hey," she said hesitantly.

"Hey," Phoebe said, her smile broadening as she looked at the young witch-Whitelighter. Piper was watching her suspiciously, frowning slightly. "Uh, sorry to be rude, but do we know you?"

Managing a weak laugh, Jaina shook her head. "No, you don't know me, Phoebe, but you will," she replied. At the sisters' confused looks, she smiled. "I'm Jaina Cromwell."

"Chris's friend," Piper said in realisation. When the young girl nodded, she studied her carefully. All at once, she realised what Chris had meant when he said that it looked as though she had been through a lot. Her blue eyes sported a haunted look, her red hair was stringy and dead looking. Not to mention that the girl was so thin that she could practically see her ribs sticking out. She was practically a poster child for starvation. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Thanks," Jaina said and noticed that Paige and Phoebe were looking confusedly at Piper.

"What are we talking about?" Phoebe wanted to know. "Wait, are you from the future too?"

Jaina laughed. "Yeah, I am," she admitted. "Uh, look, I was just looking for Chris. Is he here or back at the manor?"

"Went through there a few minutes ago," Piper said, pointing towards the backroom. Just as Jaina started to head back there, she stopped her. "Here, I'll come too."

As the two women walked through the crowd, Jaina suddenly had a sense of foreboding, giving her a chill of apprehension. All at once, she started moving faster towards the backroom, because all too often her feelings turned out to be right.

"Chris?" Jaina said the minute that she opened the door. She let out a gasp at the scene that met her eyes: Bianca, with her hand inside Chris's chest, draining his powers. "HEY!"

Bianca turned, pulling her hand away from Chris, and powered up an energy ball. Piper, making no hesitations, flicked her wrists and blew the phoenix away.

Looking around at her best friend, Jaina instantly rushed to his side as he slid down the wall in obvious pain. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked, concerned. Chris looked up at her and nodded, though his jade eyes were still filled with pain.

"Yeah, I think so, Jaya," he answered. Piper, who had joined them by now, was helping Chris to his feet.

"What happened?" she wanted to know, looking between her as-of-yet-unrevealed son from the future and the witch-Whitelighter from the future. "Who was she?"

Jaina opened her mouth to explain to her foster mother, but Chris beat her to it. "I don't know," he said, not looking towards Jaina, his eyes focused on Piper.

The eldest Charmed One let out a sigh and headed back into the club. "Come on, you two, let's go!" she barked at the two witch-Whitelighters when she noticed that they hadn't moved. "We need to get to the manor and get to the Book. Meet us outside."

Once she had closed the door behind her, Jaina looked reproachfully towards Chris. "You should have told her," she said quietly.

Chris glared at her. "I can handle Bianca, all right?" he said stubbornly, jade eyes meeting blue. "Look, I am fine, there's no need to get the sisters into this."

"Little late for that, isn't it?" Jaina pointed out. "You know the sisters, Chris, they're not going to stop until they find out whose after you and then you'll have to face the deceived Charmed Ones. That's not exactly something that's usually classified as fun."

It was only when he opened his mouth to retort that Chris realised the way that she was looking at him and the tone she was using. He recognised the look immediately. It was the same one that she'd had on her face the day that his mom had died. The day of the Event. "Jaya, nothing is going to happen, okay?" he said on a more gentler note. "I can handle Bianca. I could handle her before she was on our side, remember?"

Jaina shook her head. "That's not why I'm worried," she whispered. "I know you can take care of yourself, Chris. I'm scared that you're going to try and turn her back again and it's going to tear you apart." She looked away from him, blinking away tears.

Letting out a sigh, Chris said softly, "Come here." He took her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. "I promise you, Jaina, I'm not leaving you. I can't change Bianca's decision, although I'm probably going to have to face him again." There was no doubt in either witch-Whitelighter's mind which 'him' he meant.

With a small smile, Jaina glanced up at her best friend, noting how ragged his breath sounded. "Are you sure that you're all right?" she wanted to know.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chris assured him. "Come on, we'd better catch up with the sisters or Piper will throw a fit." He smiled at her before heading into the club.

Jaina glanced around the room once before she followed him, half-expecting Bianca to reform on the spot. There was no way that this could end well, she thought unhappily. No way at all.

--

"Is this the mark?" Paige asked, pointing towards a page in the Book of Shadows. Piper looked and shook her head.

"No, it looked more like a bird," Piper answered. Jaina looked towards them, trying not to think about the last time that she had seen them. At least, the last time that she had seen Phoebe and Paige. The last time she'd seen Piper was much closer than that . . .

_Eighteen-year-old Jaina sat in the mausoleum where all four of the sisters were buried, right alongside each other, staring at the spot that held her foster mother. Now, two other Halliwells filled the spots as well. Prudence "Prue" and Penelope "Penny" Halliwell, the two elder daughters of Phoebe Halliwell, Patience's sisters. _

_"How are we supposed to fix this, Piper?" she whispered. "How are we supposed to go forward?"_

_"You have to fight, Jaina," an all-too-familiar, yet impossible, voice answered her. Scrambling to her feet, Jaina stared in shock at the ghost of her three-years-dead foster mother. Piper Halliwell smiled at her dumbfounded foster daughter. "Aren't you going to give me a hug?" _

_Tears sparkled in Jaina's eyes as she rushed into Piper's arms. When she pulled away, she looked confused. "But—but—how?" she asked, stumbling over the words. "How could you come here, now? Chris and I called you before! Right after . . ." _

_"I was with the girls, Jaina," Piper said gently. "Phoebe, Paige, and I all were and . . . well, I couldn't come just then." She frowned slightly. "I sound an awful lot like Grams right now, right after Prue died." Then she sighed. "And the Elders sent me. Actually, I forced them to let me come."_

_Jaina couldn't help smiling at the thought of the Elders under Piper's uncontrollable temper. "Piper, how are we supposed to fix this?" she whispered. "It's not like it wasn't bad before, but now he's killing his own family! His cousins! Who's going to be next?" She shook her head. "I don't think that I can go through with leading the Resistance against him." _

_"Yes, you can," Piper said firmly, walking to stand before her foster daughter. "You'll find the strength and will to go up against him, Jaina, just as you always do. Just like you and Chris found a way to save Patience and Patty when they were captured by Wyatt." _

_"Not entirely," Jaina said softly, thinking of Paige's daughter whose mind had been damaged during the escape from Wyatt's palace. Now she barely knew what was happening around her and didn't even recognise those who she'd known her entire life. It broke her heart to even think about it. _

_Piper's warm brown eyes grew grave. "You did what you could," she said softly. "And she's still safe from Wyatt's control, that's a good thing." She cleared her throat, obviously trying to turn the conversation away from the disturbing thoughts. "So, from my one-sided conversations with Chris, I hear that he's got himself a girl?" _

_The look that Jaina gave her was enough of a reply. "Yeah, her name's Bianca," she said tonelessly. She didn't like Chris's girlfriend much. "She's a witch, the daughter of the phoenix assassin that you guys vanquished a couple of years ago?" _

_After a minute, Piper asked, "About five years older than Chris? Light brown hair, dark eyes? She'd be about twenty-one now? Can't believe he's going after older women." _

_"That's the one," Jaina grumbled. "He got that gene from you, although Leo was decades older than you." Her mind flashed towards the Elder for a minute. She hadn't given Leo a second thought since she'd last seen him at the sisters' funerals four years ago. _

_Piper laughed, smiling, and looked at her foster daughter. "I'm guessing that you still haven't told him how you feel?" she asked softly. Jaina sighed and shook her head. "Why not? Why haven't you told him before now?" _

_"Before was right after the Event happened and he was too busy thinking about . . . you guys to even think about that," Jaina said quietly. "Then we were busy forming the Resistance. And now he's met Bianca. Toads take it, Piper, he's happy. I don't want to screw that up for him. Can't you understand that?" _

_"I do understand that," Piper said with a sigh. "And I want Chris to be happy too, Jaina. But not at the expense of your happiness. I think that two of you could be happy together. Perhaps one day you will. There is a mission that will throw the two of you together, Phoebe says. A mission that you will work together to save the family and everyone that you have ever cared about." _

_"Mission?" Jaina asked, perplexed. "What mission? What are you talking about?" _

_But her foster mother only smiled. "Blessed be," she said, winking at Jaina and disappeared in a swirl of white lights. _

Jaina was pulled back into the present as Chris said, "Has it crossed your mind that maybe she wasn't after me? Maybe she was trying to get to them." He nodded his head towards the Charmed Ones.

"Kind of makes sense," Paige said with a sigh, frowning.

"Finally!" Chris said, gesturing towards her in relief. "Someone listening to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to take care of." Without another word to Jaina, Leo, or the sisters, he walked out of the attic. Jaina frowned, he was still looking as though he were in a lot of pain. Now, more than ever, she wished that she had studied up on phoenixes in the future.

"He's not telling the truth," Leo said after Chris had disappeared down the stairs.

"Leo, maybe there's nothing to tell," Paige pointed out.

"Oh, there's a lot to tell," Jaina said with a sigh, getting up to follow Chris. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around, gesturing her hand towards the Book. Paige jumped back as the pages flipped telekinetically and finally settled on the page on phoenixes. It wasn't much, but it was all she could tell them right now.

All three of the sisters stared at her and she shrugged, putting a finger to her lip, before following Chris out of the attic. She hated only telling them half the truth, but if they knew too much about the future, it could change more than they wanted to change. For now, she was just going to have to trust Chris in handling Bianca on his own.

She hated that.


	6. Jaina's Abandonment

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Six: Jaina's Abandonment

Jaina opened the bathroom door just in time to catch sight of white orbs leaving it. "Chris!" she yelled, running forward and trying to grab the last of the orbs in an effort to stop him, but he was already gone. Gritting her teeth, she muttered, "Halliwells!"

Closing her eyes, she tried to sense Chris, unsuccessfully. Wherever he was, he didn't want her to know where he was and was blocking her. Why did he have to inherit his mom's stubbornness? she wondered, heading off to go find the sisters. To her exasperation, she only found Leo in the attic, pouring over the Book. "Where are the sisters?" she demanded.

"They, uh, went out," Leo said with a weak smile at her as he looked up. "On dates." He gave a small shrug as he returned to the Book.

"Even Piper?" Jaina asked, amazed. Even after she and Leo got divorced in the future, Piper hadn't gone out on dates very much, preferring to stay at home with her and the boys.

"Yeah," Leo said quietly, avoiding eye contact with her. Jaina noted this with great interest. Apparently, this Leo still had feelings for Piper and it was very obvious. "Uh, so you know anything else about phoenixes?"

"Just what's in the Book," Jaina admitted, walking over to him to peer at the Book. "Hey, do you think you can you sense Chris? He left a little while ago and he's blocking me."

Leo closed his eyes and tried to sense the Whitelighter, but just like Jaina, he got the block that she'd come across. Suppressing a sigh, he opened his eyes, looking guiltily at the witch-Whitelighter, who was waiting expectantly. "No, sorry, Jaina," he said. He actually looked apologetic, she was surprised to see. "He must be blocking me too."

Letting out a groan of frustration, Jaina exclaimed, "Of all the stubborn, pigheaded, impertinent boys—" She shook her head. "If anything happens to him, I'll never forgive him. Or that fiancée of his," she muttered, not meaning for Leo to hear.

But of course, the man had the annoying habit of hearing exactly what you didn't want him to hear. "Fiancée?" Leo echoed. "Chris has a fiancée?"

"It's a long story," she responded, taking a seat on the couch. She hadn't gotten a good look around earlier, but now that she had the time, she noted that it hadn't changed much. Sure, there were things that they'd gotten rid of years ago, but it was a messy attic, like always. Of course, there were things that the sisters had kept forever.

"But I thought that you and Chris . . ." Leo began, stopping in midsentence. Jaina looked up at him, frowning. How much did he know? Was she really that obvious, that Leo, who hated Chris, had begun to notice how much she cared about him?

"Chris and I what?" she asked, blinking up at him. Leo was looking extremely uncomfortable.

"I thought that you two were together," he said, turning an interesting shade of red. She stared at him. "I heard you, that very first night that you were here, on the bridge. I heard you say that you loved him."

Jaina wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream, swear, or laugh. He had been there that night? He had heard her say that? "Toads take it!" she grumbled, getting to her feet and running her hands through her red hair. It wasn't a phrase that Piper had approved of, although it was better than swearing. "You heard that?"

Leo nodded, looking slightly ashamed. Well, at least this Leo was a bit honest with his feelings. "Not that it's any of my business," he replied, "but what really is the story between you two?"

"Friends," Jaina said simply, still a little annoyed with Leo for listening and a lot annoyed with herself. She hadn't even known he was there. Hadn't sensed him until he's approached her. "His mom took me in when my witch mother took off without a moment's notice. As for my father . . . well, he left when my mom got pregnant."

She went quiet as she remembered that fateful day, fifteen years ago, when her mother had disappeared.

_Six-year-old Jaina Cromwell swung her legs back and forth on the bench as she waited impatiently for Mommy to pick her up, getting up and walking back and forth across the sidewalk before returning to her seat on the bench. She was already late, though it wasn't unusual for her to be late. But school had ended _hours_ ago and there was still no sign of her. _

_After her mommy had been a little bit late, Jaina had pulled out her homework, hoping to get a little bit started on it before she got picked up. The minutes that she'd been late had turned into hours and finally Jaina had finished her homework. _

_"Hasn't she come yet?" Mrs. Ryder, her teacher, had come out onto the front of the school, looking expectantly at Jaina. But the young witch-Whitelighter shook her head, red hair swinging into her face. This was beyond late for her. Even with work, Mommy should have been here by now. It was already after five o'clock. _

_"Maybe she just forgot about me," Jaina said in a small voice. It wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes, Mommy forgot that she was even there at all. And if she did notice her, she was always yelling at her, telling her to stay out of her way. _

_That's why Jaina liked it much better at Chris's house. His mommy, Piper, was always so nice and really liked having her around, always making extra food for her and not seeming troubled by it. Chris's aunts, too, were happy to have her around at their houses too. Phoebe would tease Jaina, saying that she and Chris were probably going to end up married someday. Paige, who was a teacher at Magic School, helped her with her homework when she needed it. _

_"Jaina, is there anybody else that you can call and get you?" Mrs. Ryder wanted to know, surveying the little girl severely. "Friends? Relatives? Your dad, maybe?" _

_"I guess that I can call Chris's mom," Jaina said quietly. "She could come and get me." There was no doubt in her mind that her mother was going to come. She had actually forgotten her. _

_"Come and use the phone in the office," Mrs. Ryder said gently, leading Jaina back into the building. They entered the office and Jaina climbed onto a chair, dialling Chris's house. _

_Piper answered on the second ring. "Hello, this is the Halliwell residence," she said, her voice cheerfully. _

_At once, Jaina burst into tears and Mrs. Ryder took the phone, explaining the situation to Piper as Jaina cried real tears. It was the first time in years that she had allowed herself to cry. When she was done talking to Piper, Mrs. Ryder handed the phone to Jaina again. "She wants to talk to you, dear," she said kindly. _

_Jaina took the phone back. "Piper?" she asked, her voice slightly choked from crying. _

_"Hi, Jaina, sweetie," Piper said, her voice gentle. "Did your mom forget to come and get you, honey?" _

_"Uh-huh," Jaina sniffled again. _

_"Okay, sweetie, I'm gonna come and get you and then you can stay here at the manor with me and the boys tonight, how does that sound?" _

_"All right," Jaina said quietly. "Piper, how come Mommy didn't come and get me?" _

_"I don't know, honey," Piper said. "I'll be over there in fifteen minutes and then when we get home, you and Chris can work together on your homework, all right?" _

_"I've already finished my homework, Piper," Jaina told her. "I finished it hours ago." _

_"That's a good girl," Piper praised her. Jaina smiled, feeling a little bit better by the compliment. "Okay, just hang tight, sweetie. I'll be there as soon as I can." _

_"Thanks, Piper," Jaina said, wiping away the last of her tears before replacing the phone in the receiver. _

_True to her word, Piper arrived fifteen minutes later in her SUV, pulling up beside the curb. Jaina ran to her, hugging her around the waist. She had never been so glad to see the eldest Charmed One before. Piper smiled and scooped her up into her arms. "Okay, you go ahead and get in the car while I have a quick word with Mrs. Ryder, all right?" she instructed Jaina. _

_"Okay," Jaina said cheerfully, climbing into the car. She could hear some of what the adults were saying, but all she could make out was "gone" and "abandon her child." Whatever they were talking about, it had something to do with her, because they kept looking at her. _

_Finally, Piper climbed into the driver's seat and smiled at Jaina. "Seatbelt," she reminded her and Jaina obeyed, clicking the belt into place. "So, did your mom say anything to you about leaving town or something?" _

_"Mommy left town?" Jaina asked, blinking up at Piper. _

_"I don't know, honey," Piper said gently. "I was just wondering if she told you anything." _

_Jaina shook her head. "No, she didn't say anything to me at all, other than she'd be here when I got off of school." _

_Piper gave a small nod, not saying anything as she navigated her way through traffic. And although Jaina didn't know it at the time, she was going from a neglected, unwanted, and unloved child to welcomed, cherished, and accepted. _

Jaina glanced up at Leo as the memories faded from her mind; he was looking at her expectantly, as though he were waiting for her to continue speaking. "Let's just say that we've gotten close over the past fifteen years," she said quietly.

Leo could see at once that, while she had told him the basic truth, there was a lot more to the story. But he let it slide, seeing that she wasn't going to give him any answers that were going to be helpful. "Okay," he said slowly. "Well, the Book says that phoenixes want whatever bounty that they're after, which in this case is Chris, and they won't stop until they get it. Which means that there could be some still after him."

"Not likely," Jaina muttered. Leo looked at her strangely. "Okay, Chris is going to kill me for telling you this, but the phoenix that attacked him is from the future. Her name's Bianca. And she can reform, which means that she's still going to be looking for him."

"WHAT!"

"Okay, obviously this complicates things a bit," Jaina said, wincing at Leo's tone, "but on the bright side, at least it's only one assassin that's after him and not an entire coven."

Leo shook his head, exasperated, when the sound of orbs emerged from behind them, followed by someone collapsing.


	7. Saving Chris

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Seven: Saving Chris

"Chris!" Jaina shouted, running to her best friend, who was lying on the floor, his face scrunched up in pain.

"Bianca . . ." he gasped, his head laying in Jaina's lap. Leo knelt down beside him, concern marked into his face as he held his hands over Chris's chest, trying to heal him.

"Why isn't it working?" Jaina demanded as Chris remained as he was, unconscious in her arms and muttering incoherent words. Leo didn't answer as he opened Chris's shirt, revealing an ugly and deathly looking wound. "Oh, my—"

"Go get the sisters," Leo ordered her as he hauled Chris into his arms and orbing him downstairs.

Jaina wasted no time in orbing out to retrieve the sisters. Whether they liked it or not, they were needed for Charmed duties. "Paige?" she asked as she materialised before the youngest. It took her a minute for her eyes to adjust the sudden darkness.

She heard the sound of kissing before she realised what was going on. "Oh, for the love of toads!" she muttered, covering her eyes as Paige let out a shriek, seeing Jaina there.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "You know, a simple phone call would do nicely, thank you!"

"Leo sent me to come find you," Jaina said with her eyes still covered. She really didn't want to see any more than she already had. "Chris got attacked and there's something wrong with him and Leo can't heal him and I'm freaking out and—"

Paige, sensing that she was already under enough stress as it was, waved her explanation aside. "Go get Piper, I'll get Phoebe and meet you back at the manor," she told the witch-Whitelighter.

Grateful, Jaina nodded. "Sure, no problem," she said with an uneasy laugh, keeping her eyes shut. "Nice meeting you . . . Richard, isn't it?" She hoped that she got Paige's boyfriend's name right.

"Yeah," the man said. He was laughing just as nervously. "Nice to meet you too."

"Okay, good," Jaina said, preparing to orb. "Bye." Without another word, she disappeared into a series of white orbs, focusing on Piper. She materialised outside an apartment, not wanting a repeat of what she'd seen with Paige.

"Piper?" she called, knocking on the door. "Piper, it's Jaina! We've got problems back at the manor, can you please open the door now?" There was no sound of movement inside so she knocked harder. "Piper, please open the door! Chris is in trouble!" She said this out of desperation that the door would open.

Thankfully, it did. Piper came out, looking harassed as she looked at the future girl. "What is going on?" she demanded, closing the door behind her. "What has Chris gotten himself into this time?"

"It's Bianca, the phoenix who's after him," she explained hastily. "She attacked him and we need all three of you guys, like now. And Leo can't heal him, either, so we need to figure out something to do and fast."

Piper let out a deep sigh, rubbing her temples. "This is getting ridiculous," she grumbled. "All right, fine, give me . . . five minutes so I can come up with a good explanation. 'Cause the 'family emergency' one is getting a little old."

Jaina rolled her eyes as Piper went back into the apartment and began to pace back and forth, waiting impatiently for the eldest Charmed One. When she finally came back out, Jaina orbed them both back to the manor.

Paige and Phoebe had already arrived and were talking with Leo. " . . . is draining his powers and blocking mine," he was saying to them. "It's like a virus."

"A virus named Bianca," Jaina responded as she entered the room, followed by Piper. "She's the only one who could've done this to him."

"But why would she come back from the future to kill him, though?" Paige wanted to know. Obviously Leo had given them the updates. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, phoenixes are hired guns, aren't they?" Piper replied as she looked worriedly at Chris. "Someone had to have sent her. The question is, who?" She directed this question towards Jaina, who kept her mouth shut. "Come on, Jaina, who sent her?"

Jaina only looked at the woman who would be her foster mother in the future. "Trust me, Piper," she said warily. "You wouldn't believe the truth even if I told you."

Before Piper could respond to this, Jaina walked over to the couch and knelt down beside her best friend, stroking his hair gently, which was soggy, probably due to the fact that he was sweating so bad. _Don't you dare do this to me, Christopher, _she thought, tears starting to blind her vision. _Don't you make me go through losing another person that I care about. First Piper, Paige, and Phoebe, and then Prue and Penny, not even two years later. Then losing Patty to insanity and Sam and Henry leaving with your uncle for safety. I cannot—I will not—lose you too. I won't survive it. _

She felt someone touch her shoulder and looked up, seeing Phoebe looking at her. "It's okay, honey," she said gently, sitting down beside her in an effort to comfort her. "He's gonna be okay."

Jaina only shook her head. "I wish that I was as sure as you were, Phoebes," she said quietly. She took her hand into Chris's, feeling something slip between his fingers as she did so.

Whatever it was dropped with a clink onto the floor next to her and Phoebe. Jaina reached for it, but the Charmed One beat her to it. "What is that?" Paige wanted to know, stepping closer. But Jaina already knew what it was.

"Engagement ring," Phoebe said, holding it up for them to see. She looked expectantly at Jaina, as though she were waiting for her to say something.

But the witch-Whitelighter shook her head quietly. "It's not mine," she said quietly. If ever was the time to tell them, this would be it. She took a deep breath. "It's Bianca's. She's Chris's fiancée."

"Wait, the same person who is trying to kill him is also the person that he's going to marry?" Paige asked incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Wish that I was," Jaina replied with a sigh, pushing a hand through her red hair. Her blue gaze rested on her best friend. "And I don't think that she's trying to kill him, just take him back. That must've been what she was doing when Piper and I interrupted her, draining his powers. It'll make him vulnerable, unable to do anything to stop her from taking him back home. Not to mentioned, he won't be able to put up much of a fight against W—this guy in the future who's after him."

"So this guy in the future wants him dead?" Piper wanted to know. None of them had noticed her near-slip of the tongue.

"Have him killed, have him join him," Jaina said, shrugging her shoulders. "I really don't think that it matters to him one way or the other, so long as Chris doesn't change the past and save Wyatt."

"Well, at least we have something to scry for her now," Piper said, reaching for the ring. Phoebe handed it to her. "Leo, you keep an eye on Chris. Phoebe, you help me with the scrying. Paige and Jaina, you two work on a vanquishing potion in case she's not in the mood to help."

Jaina sighed and kissed Chris on the forehead. "I'll be back, buddy," she whispered in his ear. She wasn't sure if he heard her or not, but he seemed to relax a little when he heard her voice. And that was enough for her.

"I'll call you if something happens," Leo said gently to her. Jaina nodded, smiling at him gratefully as she walked into the kitchen with Paige, getting to work on the vanquishing potion.

Paige gathered the ingredients while Jaina stirred, keeping her eyes on the potion as she added the ingredients. "Mandrake root," she said and Paige added it, making the potion turn a bright pink colour. "All right, then it should be just about done."

"You really know your stuff, don't you?" Paige asked, impressed. She had met few witches who were this good at making potions as this girl was. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was from the future, though.

Jaina, however, grinned at her. "Course I do," she said as she added some rosemary herbs. "Who couldn't be, when they had a Charmed One teaching them everything they knew?"

"Wait, the three of us taught you how to make potions?" Paige asked interestedly.

"Well, you did," Jaina admitted, wondering how much to tell her. "You taught potion making at Magic School and I attended there." It was close enough to the truth; she had, in fact, learned how to make potions from both Paige and Piper, but she hadn't attended Magic School until after the sisters had died. After the Event, Chris, Jaina, and Chris's cousins had been shipped off to Magic School and Wyatt had spun further and further out of control.

"I'm a teacher in the future?" Paige asked. "And Magic School? You mean, like Hogwarts?"

Jaina laughed. "Yeah, sort of," she agreed. "Well, we're just about done here. Are the vials still in the left cabinet?"

"I got them," Paige answered, heading over to the cabinet and grabbing four vials, one for each of the witches. "You know, I still find it hard to believe that you and Chris are best friends. No offence."

"None taken, but why do you say that?" Jaina wanted to know as she filled the vials that Paige had handed her. The potion had turned a dark, murky colour.

"Well, Chris rarely tells us anything about the future and never tells us anything about himself," Paige explained. "I swear, we don't know any more about that boy than when he first orbed into the attic when the Titans attacked."

Letting out a sigh, Jaina blew her bangs out of her face. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't be saying so much," she muttered. Chris was more than likely going to give her an earful when he found out just how much she had revealed to the sisters. She looked towards the dining room. "Hey, did you guys find Bianca yet?"

She picked up the vials and headed into the dining room, where Phoebe and Piper were standing over the map. "Yeah, she's at an apartment complex over on Fifth," Phoebe answered.

"Little Bianca?" Jaina asked, glancing towards where the crystal was laying at. "'Cause that's where Lynn, Bianca's mom, lives at. At least she did when Bianca was a kid." Even though she hated Bianca, she knew that much about her.

"No, the one that we want," Piper said firmly, heading back into the living room and handing the ring back to Leo. "Here. Here's something for Chris to remember her by. Or not."

"Right, so as soon as we orb over there, I'm gonna—" Paige was cut off when something murky blue spilled over all three of the sisters. Leo's back was turned, so he didn't see it, but Jaina did.

"Oh, boy!" she muttered.

"You're gonna what?" Leo wanted to know, still not facing the sisters. His gaze was on Chris.

"I'm gonna move into Richard's house," Paige said in a cheerful voice. Jaina's eyes went wide as she gawked at them. They were obviously under some kind of spell. This can't be happening, she thought, on the borderline of panic. This cannot be happening.

"Are you?" Piper said just as cheerfully, looking towards her youngest sister. Leo had finally turned around, horrified. "Good for you."

"Yeah, and I think I'm gonna go check out what's happening in Hong Kong," Phoebe said, grinning wildly.

"Are you three out of your freaking minds!" Jaina shrieked. "What about Chris and Bianca? And, oh, I don't know, saving your son and nephew from some impeding doom that is going to happen to him? You have to fight this spell!"

Phoebe only looked at her in mock dismay. "How can you fight your heart?" she wanted to know.

"Or your hormones?" Piper added.

"Hey, will you drop me off on the way to Richard's?" Phoebe asked Paige, who nodded.

"Yeah, I'd love to," she said, taking her sister's hand.

"Hang on, you two, Jaina's right!" Leo protested, trying to stop them. "You listen to me!"

However, Phoebe only said something in Chinese and she and Paige orbed out. Piper gave the two Whitelighters a 'so there' nod and walked off, leaving them to deal with the mess.


	8. Working Together

Author's Note: Okay, just thought that I'd give you all of the Charmed kids names and what's happened to them before the story's begun. It's not necessarily important to the story—as of now—but as I am making references to them, I thought I'd write them all down.

Paige Matthews and Henry Mitchell (Right name? Can't remember.)

—Henry Matthews: left the country with his dad and younger sister shortly after Wyatt began taking over. Powers: healing, telekinetic orbing.

—Samantha "Sam" Matthews: named for Paige's dad, she went with her older brother and father to escape Wyatt's domain. Powers: orbing, healing.

—Patricia "Patty" Matthews: named for the Charmed Ones' mother, she was captured by Wyatt along with her cousin Patience and was tortured into insanity. Powers: healing, orbing, sensing.

Phoebe Halliwell and Coop

—Prudence "Prue" Halliwell: named after the eldest sister, she was Phoebe's eldest daughter, murdered by Wyatt four years after the death of her mother. Powers: Premonitions, materialising, levitation.

—Penelope "Penny" Halliwell: named after Grams, Phoebe's second daughter was killed with her elder sister, Prue. Powers: Materialising, levitation, empathy.

—Patience Halliwell: youngest sister and the only surviving child of Phoebe, she was left in charge of the Resistance after Jaina went to warn Chris about Bianca. Powers: empathy, materialising.

Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt

—Wyatt Halliwell: firstborn son of Piper Halliwell, he killed his mother, aunts, and two of his cousins as he seized control of the entire country. Also had his demons torture his cousin Patty into insanity. Powers: orbing, sensing, healing, telekinesis, energy balls, Excalibur.

—Chris Halliwell: Piper and Leo's second son who went to the past in order to save his brother from turning evil. Warned by his best friend about Bianca's betrayal. Powers: orbing, sensing, telekinesis, time manipulation (Piper's powers).

—Jaina Cromwell: Piper's foster daughter who has been in love with Chris since they were six years old. Upon learning that his fiancée had betrayed him, she left the Resistance in Patience's hands and went after him to warn him. Powers: orbing, sensing, telekinesis, some foresight capabilities, and the ability to unlock any lock.

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Eight: Working Together

Jaina had to shove her hands into her pockets to keep herself from using her telekinesis on the furniture to take out her frustration and anger. "I am going to kill Bianca with my bare hands when I get a hold of her," she said through gritted teeth.

Leo let out an uneasy laugh as he looked at her. "I think that I'll be inclined to help you," he offered, his jade eyes that were so much like Chris's focusing on her.

"You're an Elder, Leo," Jaina pointed out. "You're supposed to be a pacifist. Non-violent, remember?"

"Watch me," Leo told her. "All right, I'm pretty sure that they were placed under the Inhibition Spell."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Jaina nodded. "Yeah, that would be Bianca's obvious choice. This is the time in the Charmed Ones' history where they all want their separate lives, which means that she'll try and release their inhibitions in an effort to get them to pursue them."

"And distract the sisters so that she'll have a clear shot to get what she came for," Leo added. Both of them turned to look at Chris, who was mumbled something about 'forget who you really are' in his delirium. He looked at Jaina.

"I think that there's a potion in the Book of Shadows to reverse it," Jaina said, trying to remember. This wasn't the first time that she'd run across the Inhibition Spell. Unfortunately, last time, they hadn't had access to the Book, so they didn't have the potion to reverse it. She and Chris had to come up with a back up potion to stop the potion's effects, which hadn't been as good as the one in the Book.

"Okay, I'll try and keep Piper from leaving and keep an eye on Chris, you get to the Book and start working on that potion," Leo ordered. "Have it done as fast as you can. I don't think I can keep Piper here that long with her in this state."

Jaina nodded, not really annoyed at obeying the Elder's orders at the moment as she hurried up the attic, grabbed the Book, and headed back into the kitchen. She grabbed the ingredients that she needed from the cabinet and started working on the potion, sweat appearing on her forehead from the effort of trying to hurry. Every moment counted, every second . . .

With warning, Jaina suddenly jolted, feeling something stab her in the stomach. Her eyes went wide as she saw the phoenix smirking at her, having shimmered in front of her seconds before she'd stabbed the girl.

"Leo!" Jaina gasped, falling to her knees. The pain was unbearable . . . "Chris!"

"Forget about your idiot friend, Cromwell," Bianca hissed in her ear. She was smirking at the witch-Whitelighter. "He's mine, always was, always will be. Did you really think that he'd want someone like you when he was with someone like me? Chris won't be able to help you, nor will the Charmed Ones, not even the Elder."

Tears filled Jaina's eyes as Bianca kicked her in the stomach. "Now for the Elder," she said as she walked away, satisfied that Jaina was in no position to do any more harm.

Jaina tried to scream for Leo, to warn him, but darkness swept through Jaina, overtaking her. And she felt her heart began to slow to a stop and suddenly everything changed and she felt herself floating up. Something strong and peaceful lifted her up and raised her up into the place where you were still alive, yet death was still close by. Close enough that you could call yourself dead.

The light started to pull her towards it, but she heard the familiar sound of orbing and looked towards the figure that approached. "Who's there?" she asked, hopeful. "Leo?"

"No, not Leo," said an unfamiliar man. He stepped closer to her, his blue eyes looking directly at her. Eyes, she realised, that were the same shape and colour as her own. "Jaina, take my hands, please. Hurry, we don't have a lot of time."

"I don't understand," she whispered, shaking her head. She didn't take his hands. "What's going on? Who are you?"

Raising his head, the man looked at her, the light throwing in his features and Jaina was struck by the resemblance to her. The small stature, the pale skin, even the dark red hair was the exact image of hers. "I'm your father, Jaina."

"My—"

"Please, take my hands, Jaina," he begged her. "I know that you're tired of fighting and of the man you love not returning his affections, but this isn't the way out. Trust me."

"But you can't heal the dead," Jaina reminded him, still staring wide-eyed at him. "It's against the rules."

"There'll be worse things than breaking the rules if you die, Jaina, trust me," her father told her quietly. "Besides, after what's happened to you in the future, I'd say that magic owes you."

A lump formed in her throat as she looked at him, her father. William Cromwell, her mother's Whitelighter. Slowly, she reached for his hands and he took them into his, the healing glow appearing within them. "I'll be there for you this time, Jaina," he promised her as he healed her soul. "I'm not ever going to leave you again."

That was the last thing that Jaina remembered before she was thrust back downward into her body and then she was staring upward at the ceiling, gasping for air. _Just breathe, Jaina, _she told herself. _In and out, remember. Just breathe. You've got to save Chris. _

The thought of her best friend was enough for her to sit up and grab the edge of the counter, managing to pull herself unsteadily to her feet. She looked down at her side, but the wound was gone.

"Leo!" she gasped as she walked as fast as she could at the moment into the foyer.

She found him lying unconscious by the front door. Chris was nowhere to be seen. "Leo!" she said, kneeling beside him and shaking him awake. "Leo, come on, wake up! We got to hurry!"

Leo let out a groan as he sat up, then looked at her. "What happened to you?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head while he peered at her more closely. "You look terrible."

"Thanks ever so much," Jaina muttered, glaring at him. "Toads take it, I hope that Bianca didn't smash my potion."

"Toads?" Leo murmured as he helped her into the kitchen, where she found the potion still laying in the pot.

"Okay, hurry and get some vials in the cabinet, we got to hurry and get the sisters or we're never going to rescue Chris," she ordered. Leo obeyed her and she poured the potion into three separate vials, not thinking about what had happened before she had woken up. Whatever had happened Up There with . . . with her father could wait until later. Right now, she had her best friend to save.

--

While Leo had gone to reverse the effects on Paige and Piper, Jaina orbed off to Hong Kong to find Phoebe. Thankfully, she found her still at the airport there, waiting for a cab to take her to Jason's. "Phoebe!" she called after the middle sister.

She turned around and spotted Jaina there. When Jaina walked towards her, she said cheerfully, "Jaina, hi! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, they're fine," Jaina said, wondering how she was going to throw the potion with all these people around. "Your cab hasn't shown up yet?"

"No, although I'm thinking that maybe I should just walk to Jason's apartment," Phoebe said, pursing her lips together. "Besides, Jason is probably stuck in one of his meetings so he won't notice if I'm late or something."

"Probably," Jaina agreed, spotting the cleaning supply closet, an idea forming in her mind. There wouldn't be anybody in there, could there? "Hey, you know, I saw something over there that I thought you might want to pick up for Jason."

Phoebe brightened. "You know, that's a really good idea," she said, enthralled. "Where is it?"

"Come on, I'll show you," Jaina said, walking towards the closet. As always when she reached a locked door, it opened the moment that she touched it. Opening it, she gestured Phoebe to go inside and once the Charmed One was inside, she shut the door behind her, clicking on the light and throwing the potion at Phoebe.

At once, the murky blue thing spilled over Phoebe again and she looked over at Jaina, startled. "Okay, what just happened?" she wanted to know, confused. "What are we doing in a supply closet? That has writing in Chinese, no less?"

"Uh, we're in Hong Kong," Jaina said weakly, trying not to laugh. "And I just came to counteract a spell that Bianca cast on you. One that lowers your inhibitions."

"Huh." Phoebe only nodded. "So did she cast it over Paige and Piper, too? And did she get Chris?"

"Yeah, Leo went to go reverse the spell on them, so we have to go otherwise—" Jaina didn't want to think what would happen if they didn't rescue Chris from Bianca. She didn't want to think what Wyatt would do in the future to his little brother.

"Let's go, then," Phoebe said. Jaina nodded, orbing both of them out just as the door to the supply closet opened and a janitor walked in, catching the last sight of the orbs.

He shook his head, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I need to get my eyes checked," he muttered in Chinese.

Back in San Francisco, Piper and Paige were scrying once again for Bianca when Phoebe and Jaina orbed in. "Everyone back to normal?" Jaina asked, looking at Leo expectantly.

"Yes, we are back to normal, inhibition levels are back in control, all is right with the world," Paige said grumpily. Jaina stared at her. "Oh, give me a break, will you? Between the three of you, I'm never going to get to practice . . . non-marital skills with Richard."

"Oh, jeez!" Jaina muttered, shaking her head. "You want to talk about having a hard day, Paige? Try having your best friend's girlfriend kill you and then being brought back to life by your Whitelighter father, who has never even acknowledged you."

"Excuse me?" Piper wanted to know, looking at her incredulously. "What happened?"

"Long story, save it until later," Jaina said just as the crystal dropped onto the map once again. "She back at her mom's?" she asked when she saw where the crystal had landed.

"Yep and the one that we want," Piper said, picking up the vanquishing potion that Jaina and Paige had worked on earlier. She eyed Jaina closely. "Are you sure you want to tag along for this one? 'Cause you really don't look so good."

"I'm fine," Jaina grumbled, taking a potion. "No way am I going to just sit back and relax while my best friend is in danger."

Piper shrugged and looked towards Leo. "You gonna stay with Wyatt?" she wanted to know.

"Yeah, I got him," he assured her. "You four just go and rescue Chris; we'll be fine."

Piper nodded and all five of them orbed out to the phoenix's apartment, where they found Chris—now awake and healthy—and Bianca, about to return to the future. "Hey, future girl!"


	9. Back to the Future

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Nine: Back to the Future

Bianca whirled around and threw an athame at Piper, who had thrown the vanquishing potion towards the phoenix. The athame smashed it to pieces and was heading for the eldest sister when Piper froze it. The phoenix shimmered out and back in right in front of Piper, grabbing the knife and holding it at her throat.

"You were saying?" she asked.

"Wow, she is good," Phoebe said, impressed. Jaina only shook her head at her just as Paige took a step forward, about to call for the knife into her hand.

"No, don't!" she warned her.

"Should listen to her," Bianca suggested with a truly evil smile as she looked at Jaina. "I can kill her in half the time that it takes you to even think about it."

"Well, we still have enough potion to vanquish you," Paige retorted, but she didn't look as though she believed it.

"Maybe," Bianca agreed. "But then you really will have to hope the Power of Two will do, won't you, Paige?" The youngest sister looked shocked. "Oh, you'll be surprised what's in the history books." Her eyes returned to Jaina. "How'd you even survive, Cromwell? I could've sworn that you were dead when I left you."

Chris's eyes went wide at Bianca's statement and he met Jaina's eyes, blue eyes meeting jade, pleading for her to contradict Bianca's words. But all Jaina could say was, "I had an angel looking out for me." It was close enough to the truth.

Rolling her eyes, Bianca returned her attention to Piper, daring any of them to even so much as make a move. "Bianca, don't!" Chris said, his voice pleading. "Let them go and I promise that I'll go with you."

"Chris, what are you _doing_?" Jaina hissed at him. She hadn't come all this way, from twenty years in the future, just so that she could watch him disappear into a time portal—and out of her life—again.

But her best friend ignored her. "If you kill her," he pointed out, "there won't be a future for any of us to go back to and you know it."

"What are you talking about?" Phoebe demanded, looking at him in confusion.

"You'll see if you live long enough," Bianca answered. Chris's words had reached her. Without a second glanced to Jaina and the sisters, she turned away from Piper and walked back towards Chris.

"Piper, freeze them!" Paige told her sister out of desperation to stop the phoenix and Whitelighter from the future.

"Neither of them are going to freeze!" Jaina pointed out, then clamped a hand over her mouth, realising what she had just revealed. Chris turned and looked at her, exasperation written in his face.

But the sisters weren't looking at him, they were looking at Jaina, confused. "Okay," Piper said slowly, "I get why she wouldn't freeze, but why wouldn't he?"

"Unless—unless . . . he's . . . he's . . . he's a . . ." Phoebe stammered, looking in disbelief at her Whitelighter, as if hoping that he was going to contradict what all three of the sisters were thinking. But he didn't, didn't even bother trying to hide it now.

"I'm a witch, too?" Chris suggested, his tone light as he looked at the women who would become his mother and aunts in the future. "That's right. Part witch, part Whitelighter. Just like you, Paige," he added to the youngest sister.

Jaina hoped that they would figure it out; she was tired of all this deception already. _For the love of toads, figure it out_, she pleaded mentally. _Paige is half-Whitelighter because her dad was a Whitelighter and her mom was a witch—_

"You lied to us!" Paige interrupted Jaina's thoughts. She was glaring at Chris in distrust and even a bit of loathing.

"I had to," Chris protested. "It was the only way that I could get you to trust me." He shook his head. "Forget it, all right? It doesn't really matter anyway." Looking back to Bianca, he said quietly, "Let's go."

She smirked and waved her hand over the wall, which had the Triquetra drawn on it. It shimmered blue and white as the time portal appeared and the two walked through it, Chris looking back at them as he vanished.

Not even thinking about what she was doing, Jaina ran forward, hurtling herself through the portal, not even caring about the consequences, not thinking about saving Wyatt in the past. She didn't care about it at the moment. Sure, she wanted to save Wyatt, but not at the cost of losing Chris. It wasn't worth the risk.

She landed in a heap in the attic in the future, looking up at Chris and Bianca as she shimmered him out, leaving her alone with the demons that were waiting for them there. "Toads take you, Bianca!" Jaina screamed, throwing the demons against the wall.

One of them conjured a fireball while another conjured an energy ball and they were about to throw it at her when he suddenly exploded. The energy ball disappeared in a series of orbs and was flung back at him. Jaina blinked and turned, her jaw dropped when she saw who had vanquished him.

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were all standing behind her, having done what she had, gone right through the portal. "You aren't supposed to be here," she told them, her voice shaking due to fear.

"Yeah, well, to be perfectly fair, you and Chris weren't supposed to be in the past, either," Paige pointed out. She was smiling. "Forget about future consequences, all right? Let's go and save your best friend and our Whitelighter and get back to the past."

Jaina smiled, for the first time in a long time that it didn't feel alien on her face, and nodded. "I don't think that we're going to be able to do it alone, though," she said slowly.

Phoebe shrugged. "Who could we ask here?" she wanted to know, looking around the attic. "My god, this place looks like a museum."

"It _is_ a museum," Jaina told her with a sigh. "You can thank your wonderful, precious, firstborn, twice-blessed, all-powerful nephew for that one, Phoebe."

"Wait, Wyatt turned the manor into a museum?" Piper demanded, outraged. "What on earth would possess him to do that?"

"'To remind everyone the power of which I was born and that which I possess,'" Jaina quipped, quoting Wyatt's words as she'd heard them from one of his meetings with his demons. She shrugged. "At least, that's his outlook on it. I prefer to think of it as he's gone completely deranged."

Piper let out an uneasy laugh before she looked around the attic. "Right, well, we should get out of here," she suggested, reaching for Paige's hand.

"No, no orbing!" Jaina ordered. "They're more concerned with magic than they are about burglary in here and if the alarms go off, then Wyatt will be down on us faster than a warlock can blink."

Jaina walked through the attic, stepping over the ropes and crossing over the threshold. Thankfully, the museum was closed, so there was no one to stop them as they exited the manor and appeared on the street. "All right, well, where would Bianca be taking Chris?" Paige asked as they set off.

"His hiding place," Jaina said quietly.

"And you guys will be walking into a trap," a familiar male voice remarked as someone appeared behind them.

Phoebe whirled around, setting into a karate attack. "Don't!" Jaina shrieked, grabbing her arm to stop her. She raced to the man and he scooped her up. "Uncle Coop!"

The cupid that would become Phoebe's husband in the future hugged his foster niece tightly. "Good to see you're safe, kid," he remarked as he released her. "When Patience told me what happened, I was worried about you and Chris."

"I've missed you, Coop, where've you been?" Jaina asked, looking up at Patience's father.

"Oh, you mean between creating a safe haven for all the young witches and mortals whose parents have been killed my wife's lunatic nephew and then being captured by that nephew and tortured about the location of the Resistance headquarters and my darling daughter rescuing me?" Coop asked, a smile appearing on his face.

"I guess that's what I mean," Jaina said weakly. "How could so much have happened here? I've only been gone about two and a half weeks. Three, tops."

"Sorry, who are you?" Phoebe asked, looking at Coop, her eyebrows knitted together.

Coop looked at Jaina in question. "2004," she muttered to him. "Pre-you."

"Right," Coop said lightly, then smiled at his future wife. "I'm Coop, I'm a cupid and I'm Jaina's uncle." Obviously he wasn't going to tell them that he was Chris's uncle, because he didn't know if they knew about Chris being Piper's son or not, which would lead to them finding out Coop was Phoebe's husband.

"Uncle?" Piper repeated, looking towards Jaina. "Since when do cupids have families?"

"Let's just say that you and Leo made cross-breeding the fashion," Jaina told her, grinning wildly. Then on a more serious note, she turned to Coop. "Look, we really have to hurry. Bianca's taken Chris to him and now he's probably doing who knows what to him—"

"I'm sure that he won't do anything that will harm Chris," Coop said reassuringly. Jaina stared at him. "Okay, he won't do anything that will harm him permanently."

Jaina scoffed, turning away from her uncle. "You know, Uncle Coop, you are starting to sound like Leo," she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "I suppose that you can't just materialise over to the headquarters, do you?"

"Not any more than you can orb over there," Coop admitted. "Which means that we'll just have to settle for the old way of rescuing friends from bad guys."

"That being?"

"Breaking and entering," Coop said with a grin.


	10. In Wyatt's Dominion

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Ten: In Wyatt's Dominion

Chris had barely registered seeing Jaina exit the portal behind them, followed by the sisters, when Bianca had seized him and he was shimmered out, the attic fading from sight, replaced by Wyatt's dwelling. He'd hoped that she would've gotten the message and stayed in the past, stayed with the sisters and become their Whitelighter, so she could finish what they'd started and save Wyatt. It was the only way to change all of this, to change the future so no one would have to live in this kind of world.

But he should've known she wouldn't do that, not in a million years. She cared about Wyatt, loved him like a brother, and wanted to save him, but not at the risk of losing him. Jaina wouldn't risk that. She cared about Chris too much.

As Bianca shimmered them into his brother's home, Chris barely had time to register the cold room around him, the demons that were standing side-by-side, awaiting his brother's orders, when an energy ball came flying out of nowhere, hitting Chris in the stomach.

Letting out a sharp cry, Chris was flung backwards, straight into the wall, gasping for breath. Gritting his teeth, he struggled to his feet and managed to raise his head and look up to see Wyatt walking towards him. "Welcome home, little brother," he said mockingly. "Glad that you made it all in one piece."

"No thanks to you're hired hand," Chris said coldly, taking a glance towards Bianca. The indifferent look in her eyes didn't flicker, nor did she even acknowledge Chris's taunt. His fiancée was gone, replaced by the phoenix that she'd been before they'd met. He'd lost her for good.

"Then she did what she was hired to do," Wyatt replied. His gaze shifted from Chris to Bianca, raising his eyebrows at Bianca, who gave him a short nod. He looked towards the other demons. "He's no threat to me. Leave us. I'll deal with him on my own."

"As you wish, my lord," a few of the murmured, bowing to Wyatt. One-by-one, they shimmered out of the room, leaving the two brothers and the phoenix alone.

"You know, Chris, when I first learned about your little charade in the past, I thought that they were crazy," Wyatt remarked, walking closer to his brother. "Now it seems that it's my brother who's lost his mind. Guess it must run in the family, huh?" He laughed.

Chris's jaw tightened as he thought of Patty, his cousin, the younger of Aunt Paige's twin daughters. When she and Patience had been captured by Wyatt, he and Jaina had made an attempt to rescue them, which they had, eventually. But not before Wyatt's demons had tortured Patty into insanity. "Yeah, well, I guess we have you to thank for that," he snapped, jade eyes flashing.

Wyatt's eyes narrowed as he looked at his little brother. Raising one hand, he clenched it into a fist. Chris felt the breath in his throat leave him and he struggled for air as he fell to his knees, clutching his throat. His brother wasn't letting up, though.

His eyes began to get blurry as he gasped for air. Dark thoughts began to swirl through his mind. His mom dying, his aunts on the exact same day . . . all the anger and hatred that he'd suffered in the past at their hands . . . just to save Wyatt . . . and now it was all over . . . he was never going to save his brother . . . would never change the future. . . . And he was never going to see Jaina again . . .

For some reason, this thought seemed to give him more strength, more purpose, a reason to survive. Still gasping for breath, he struggled to think of a spell. Not an easy feat when he couldn't even breathe. "_P—powers of the wi—witches, r—rise,_" he forced out, "_come to me from a—across the sk—skies. Re—return my ma—magic, give me ba—back, all that was ta—taken from the at—attack!_" (AN: Spell taken from "Chris-Crossed")

Instantly, he felt his magic being returned to him, all of it, his witch and Whitelighter powers. Flinging his hand, he sent Wyatt flying into the wall, but his brother merely orbed out and reappeared some feet away from him. Chris turned to face him, ready for him this time.

"You're getting better, Chris," he remarked. "Almost worthy of being called the son of a Charmed One and my brother. Of course, with that friend of yours holding you back, you'll never achieve true greatness and power. Mom should have left her where she was all those years ago. She's not worth anything."

Taunts about him and his beliefs, Chris could've handled. Even jests about the sisters and his mission in the past, he would've remained calm. But bringing Jaina into it and calling her worthless, that was something Chris couldn't stand. He lost it.

Launching himself onto his older brother, Chris began fighting him with every single trick in the book and some that he'd invented himself. "Don't you dare call her that!" he yelled, ducking under the energy ball that Wyatt threw at him in an effort to stop him.

--

Jaina yanked on the lock and it clicked open. "Pretty cool power," Paige remarked as she threw the chain aside. "How'd you do that, anyway?"

"I'm not really sure, all I do is touch a locked door or lock or something and it automatically opens," Jaina admitted, shrugging. "I don't ask how things work, I just go along with it anymore."

"Still, that is a pretty awesome power," Paige pointed out, grinning wildly. Jaina looked up at her and grinned back, trying not to laugh. "What? What is so funny?"

"Nothing funny about this," Piper told her. "Not one thing."

"No, it's not that," Jaina said, laughing now. "It's just—you said the exact same thing when I actually developed that power." Coop snorted as he helped her pull open the door that led to the secret tunnel underneath Wyatt's home. "Anyway, these tunnels lead to anywhere in the mansion. Chris and I used to have rooms here, until we found out what Wyatt was really doing."

"Which is what, exactly?" Phoebe wanted to know, looking at the witch-Whitelighter. "What has he turned into?"

"A monster," Jaina whispered, shivering slightly, even though it wasn't really that cold out. She didn't like to think that the man who had turned their entire world to destruction was the same man as the one that she had grown up with.

"Wyatt Halliwell died eight years ago, as far as any of us are concerned," Coop explained to the sisters. "And the Dark Lord, one of the names his demons refer to him as, is using his corpse. He's just as bad as any demon that you guys have faced. Worse, even."

"That can't be true!" Piper protested, looking white at the thought of her baby being evil. And when Jaina thought about the sweet baby that she'd seen in the past, she couldn't really blame her. If she hadn't seen the truth with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it. "I don't believe it!"

"You can believe what you want, Piper," Jaina told her. "But you're going to find out the truth soon enough. Bianca saw me come through the portal and she'll have told Wyatt. Which means that he'll be waiting for us."

She had no desire to face her foster brother again, but she knew that she didn't really have any other choice. It was either that or she could just live knowing that she'd let Chris die. And she knew perfectly well that living with that knowledge would kill her.

Piper was quiet for a long while as they walked through the tunnels. "Why, though?" she whispered and Jaina and her sisters looked at her. The eldest Charmed One was looking at Jaina for explanations, for consolation. "How did he become so cold? Was—was I a bad mother?"

"What?" Jaina exclaimed, horrified at the thought. "No, no, of course not! You were the best! At least, that's what I've heard," she added hastily, seeing Coop's warning look.

Her foster mother raised her head to look at Jaina, who gave her a firm smile. "Then why?" she asked. "How did it happen?"

Jaina shook her head. "We're not really sure," she admitted. "All we really know is that something turned him when he was a baby. That's why Chris came to the past; not to stop a demon that was after him, but to stop a demon from turning him. It was the only way to save him, to change all of this." She nodded towards the entrance to the tunnels, towards the city. The sisters looked at each other.

"Yeah, that was creepy," Paige muttered, shaking her head. "It was like a wasteland, completely empty. It's hard to believe that that's really San Francisco."

"Try living in it," Jaina muttered as she opened the secret door that led to Chris's old quarters. But what she saw made her jaw drop in shock and she stopped dead in her tracks, nearly making Paige—who was behind her—slam into her. "Toads take it!" she breathed.

Chris and Wyatt were on the floor, beating the heck out of each other. Wyatt already had a black eye and a bloody nose, but compared to his brother, he had it easy. Chris looked as though he had been in a rumble or worse. He had cuts and bruises galore and his nose looked broken. Not to mention, he was moving cautiously, his hand lying by his stomach, making Jaina suspect broken ribs.

Bianca, who was looking at the fight in delight, looked around at Jaina and the sisters as they entered the room. Her delight look vanished and was replaced by a twisted and annoyed look. "How did you people get in here?" she demanded.

"Haven't you heard the old saying 'what you don't know can't hurt you'?" Paige remarked. Jaina didn't pay any attention to this; her attention was focused solely on the fight between the two brothers.

Ignoring Phoebe's attempt to stop her, Jaina ran forward into the fight. "Stop it, you two!" she shouted. "Wyatt! Chris! Stop! For the love of toads, you guys, stop!" Using her telekinesis, Jaina swung her hand and flung Wyatt away from Chris, grabbing her best friend's hand. She was startled to see the amount of fury and hatred that was in his eyes. "Chris?" she breathed, gaping at him.

He raised his head when he heard her voice and felt her hand touching his. "Jaya?" he asked uncertainly, the look fading in his eyes.

"Yeah," she said shakily, a bit relieved. What in the name of toads had his brother done to him? she wondered. "It's okay, Chris, I'm here. You're okay. Just stay here, okay?"

Getting to her feet, Jaina glared at Wyatt, who had in turn gotten to his feet and was glaring at the witch-Whitelighter. "What do you think you're doing, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell?" she yelled at him, forgetting for a minute that the sisters were in the room, unaware of what was to come. "He's your brother, for the love of toads!"

"Brother?" Piper whispered. Jaina turned to look at her and saw that her foster mother was looking between her two sons in shock. "Chris is Wyatt's brother?"

Wyatt let out a half-laugh, half-bark. "Oh, this is just too good!" he exclaimed. "Are you telling me that he never even told them? So I guess it's safe to say that he never told them the truth about you, Jaina?"

"Shut up, Wyatt," Jaina said through gritted teeth.

"You're not in any position to tell me what to do, Jaina," Wyatt responded, then gestured towards Piper. "Come, Mother, meet your future foster daughter."

The Charmed Ones stared at Jaina, who looked down at her feet, unable to meet their eyes. This wasn't working out how she and Chris had planned. "Jaina?" Piper whispered, reached for her hand. Jaina saw shock in her foster mother's eyes. "You're my foster daughter?"

"It's true," Jaina whispered. "After Mom left town, you took me in and raised me as the daughter you never had."

Paige, who was about to say something, suddenly focused on something behind her. "Chris, behind you!"

Jaina whirled around to see what Paige had seen and she let out a swear. Wyatt had conjured a Darklighter crossbow into his hand and was now pointing it directly at Chris. Before she could even let out a warning to him, the eldest son of Piper Halliwell fired it.

"Chris, get out of the way!" Jaina screamed, flying to Chris's side. Without thinking twice, the witch-Whitelighter pushed him out of the way, the arrow hitting her through the stomach and exiting her lower back. Her eyes went wide as she stared at Wyatt, who was looking at her in horror.

She heard someone let out a cry of anguish and horror as she fell to her knees and would've collapsed onto the ground had someone not caught her, turning her head so that she was facing him.

"Chris . . . I love you . . ." she mumbled, gazing up at him, focusing on his handsome face. Toads, she loved him . . . she loved him so much . . . why couldn't she have just told him before now?

"I love you, too, Jaya," Chris whispered. Whatever had caused him to be in that state before was gone now. His eyes were alight with unshed tears and she smiled, raising her hand so that she was touching them and brushed them away. "Hang on, please. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I love you, Jaya. I always have."


	11. The Prophecy

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Eleven: The Prophecy

Wyatt Halliwell's eyes went wide as Jaina pushed his brother out of the way to accept the attack for herself. She loved him more than he could have ever have anticipated, he realised as he orbed himself out of the room. He had to get away from there; he had to think about this.

Materialising into his chambers, Wyatt flung himself into the chair, trying to decide what to do. The girl still had some time left, if he decided to save her. But was she even worth the risk?

Gesturing towards a holoprojector, Wyatt activated it and a hologram of a young woman appeared on the screen. She was short in stature with long blonde hair and grey eyes that showed wisdom beyond her years. This woman had grown old before her time by her gift of the Sight. Telekinetically activating the play button, Wyatt watched as the woman began to speak.

_"When the past meets the future,_

_a union shall be formed._

_Between two lovers, two travellers._

_Daughter of a pacifist, of a protector of the Innocent. _

_Born to an indifferent mother, but raised by a sister three._

_Son of the second daughter of sisters three._

_Be one of two brothers. _

_And from this union,_

_three children shall be born, _

_with power that the universe has never known._

_But from one of the two brothers of the second daughter,_

_one shall be evil, the other one good._

_If born to the evil brother, _

_the children shall be the destruction._

_If born to the good brother,_

_they will be the salvation."_

The moment that she was finished speaking, the hologram of a young woman vanished into the holoprojector and Wyatt was left staring at where it had been. He had known for awhile now that Jaina was the daughter that the prophecy had referred to, had known since he first heard the prophecy. But it wasn't until now that he fully realised that it was Chris that it referred to and not him.

"Are you going to let her die, my lord?" Bianca asked, shimmering into view into the chambers. Her cool dark gaze met his as she dropped to her knees, rising once he gestured at her.

"I'm considering it," Wyatt replied, glancing at her. "I can't really risk her giving birth to the salvation of the magical world, now can I?" Bianca kept her silence, but he could tell she was eager to know what he meant. "The girl is prophesised to be the mother of a trio of witches even more powerful than my mother and aunts." _Even more powerful than I am, more or less,_ he added mentally, but didn't say that aloud. She didn't need to know that. None of his followers did.

"By Chris?" Bianca asked, looking startled.

"The prophecy didn't say precisely, but what was clear was that she would chose one of two brothers, the sons of the second Charmed One, and fall in love with him. Depending on which brother, then the children of this union would either be the salvation or the destruction."

Bianca shook her head at this predicament. "Which is why you ordered me not to eliminate her when you hired me to seduce your brother," she said, understanding. "She could have very well have joined you and had _your_ children instead of his." Her smile turned cruel. "So why not save her, then?" she asked him now. "There's nothing in the prophecy that says that she has to _choose_ which brother's children she bore, now is there?"

Wyatt glanced up at her, something of appreciation in his cold eyes. "Are you suggesting that I hold her here until she submits and bears me the children that the prophecy refers to?"

"Well, she could either submit to you or if she doesn't, then you simply force her," Bianca replied with a mirthless laugh. "After all, if she's here with us, then she can't very well bear Chris's children. With these children, our hold over the world will be complete and the pathetic Resistance destroyed. Once she has lived her use, then we can eliminate the Cromwell girl. And with her gone, then Christopher will lose his reason for living. We'll get rid of two for the price of one."

It was an interesting idea, Wyatt mused as he looked seductively at Bianca. "And then you would fill their place as the children's mother, raising them in our ways?" he inquired.

Bianca only laughed. "Am I not your wife in everything but name, my lord?" she asked captivatingly.

"Almost," Wyatt agreed, getting to his feet. "But you failed me. You allowed Jaina and the sisters to follow you and Chris here, for them to come here, to this time. I did not order you to bring them here, nor did I tell you to kill the girl."

"Forgive me, my lord," Bianca said, dropping to her knees. "Once I realised that they were following me, then I got Chris away from them as fast as I could. As for killing her, it was the only way to get Chris away from there."

Wyatt sighed; she had a point. Jaina would have gotten in the way, if only to save Chris. "Very well, but heed my warning, Bianca," Wyatt agreed grudgingly, "I will not be so forgiving the next time that you fail me. Am I clear?"

"Entirely, my lord."

"Good," Wyatt said, getting to his feet. "Get up." Bianca obeyed and he walked towards the projector, placing his hands on it. "The girl isn't dead, not yet. Send our best demons to distract Chris and the sisters when they arrive back at the manor. That's where they'll be going, to get back to the past so my _father_ can heal her." He frowned. "Is there a baby Chris from where they come from?"

Bianca shook her head. "No, he hasn't even been conceived, my lord," she answered.

"Then make sure that they are under strict instructions not to harm Mother. Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige I could care less about. In fact, it will only be better if they _did _die, then I wouldn't have to worry about my cousins. But my mother is not to be harmed, nor is my brother. You go with them and bring the girl here. And be warned, Bianca," he added scathingly. "I will not tolerate any failure this time."

"I understand." Bianca gave a deep bow and shimmered out to retrieve some of his best demons before going to the manor. Wyatt listened to her leave before picking up a glass of liquor, sipping the wine as he thought of the Cromwell girl.

"You won't be able to escape me for long, Jaina," he said, smiling cruelly. "Not for long."

Of course, he would have to put her under better protection than he had her father, William. Had she any idea that he had kept her father under lock and key for nearly twenty years, then she probably would have had a different opinion about him all these years.

No matter. He would use every once of power that he had and every spell that he could to make sure that she would _never_ escape from him. When he had her in his grasp, there would be no escape for her. Not even his brother would be able to save her.

It was a shame that Chris cared about her so much. Otherwise, Wyatt would've been perfectly happy to let them ride off into the sunset together. But this girl would be his downfall, if she bore Chris's children. And he couldn't let that happen.

One way or another, he had to make sure that she and Chris—no matter what they were now—never ended up having children. He had to make sure that it was _his_ children and not his brother's that she was the mother of.

And if his demons failed, then he would not only kill them, but he would kill his brother and his girl too. If he couldn't have the girl, then he would make sure that his brother never did.


	12. Love Pledges

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Twelve: Love Pledges

In all of his life, Chris Halliwell never felt the fear that he'd felt when he'd watched his best friend push him out of the way when his brother fired a Darklighter arrow at him. She had willingly taken the arrow for him in order to save him. As he watched her fall, the arrow in her stomach, he'd screamed Jaina's name, but it didn't sound anything like him, it was full of anguish and fear. Even during the Event, it hadn't been as bad as this.

As he held her in his arms, she looked up at him, focusing on him, pulling him into view, the poison already taking effect. "Chris . . . I love you . . ." she whispered, brushing away unshed tears in his eyes.

He barely even registered when the past selves of his mom and aunts ran towards them, along with his Uncle Coop. "I love you, too, Jaya," he whispered, the fury that had been going through his mind gone now. "Hang on, please. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I love you, Jaya. I always have."

Until that moment, he hadn't realised just how much that she had meant to him. He needed her, not just because she was her best friend and his mom's foster daughter, but because she was everything to him.

Because he _loved_ her. Not as a best friend, or even brotherly affection towards her, but really loved her, the way that his love should've been towards Bianca.

And he hadn't realised it until he had lost her.

But Jaina was looking up at him, the pain evident in her eyes, but through it, he could see the love that she'd felt for him, but somehow managed to hold bottled up inside. Why? he screamed mentally. Why didn't she just tell him how she felt before now?

"Well, it certainly took us long enough," Jaina forced out, blue eyes overbright. Her voice was teasing. "We just had to wait until I'm dying to tell each other how we really feel."

"You're not dying!" Chris screamed at her, trying not to panic, but it really wasn't working. "You're not! We'll find a Whitelighter—Sam or Patty or Henry—"

"Sam and Henry left the country, Chris, we don't know where they are," Jaina said with half-laugh, "and Patty was just getting a handle on her healing power when she was tortured into insanity. Even if she tried, I don't think she'd be able to do it."

"Then Dad," Chris said fiercely. "We'll get Dad. He's our only other option."

"So basically, I'm screwed?" Jaina asked weakly. Even though he was thinking the same thing, Chris shook his head in protest. Leo Wyatt hated him in the past and was never there for him in the future. There was no way that he'd do anything for Chris. "Come on, Chris, it's true. Leo wouldn't even come for Piper, there's no way that he'll come for me."

"Then I'll drag his butt over here kicking and screaming," Coop replied. Chris raised his head to look at his uncle. "Just hang tight, Jaina, all right? I'll go find Leo." He dematerialised and Chris looked back towards his brother, but Wyatt had disappeared.

"All right, everyone with Whitelighter blood back up," Piper ordered as she squatted beside Jaina.

"No." Chris shook his head.

"Chris, honey, we have to get the arrow out," Phoebe told him. Paige retreated a few steps away from the two witches and two witch-Whitelighters while her sisters prepared to yank the arrow out of Jaina. "It'll just take a minute."

"I'm not moving," Chris said stubbornly.

Piper, seeing that there was no point in arguing, gave in. "All right, prop her up, then," she told him. Now that she knew the truth, she couldn't see how they could've missed it. He looked so much like her and was as stubborn as a mule. A true Halliwell, she thought, pride filling through her as she looked at her younger son.

Chris did as she instructed and held onto Jaina, slipping his hand into hers as Piper took hold of the arrow. "One . . . two . . . three!" She pulled the arrow through the witch-Whitelighter and Jaina let out a scream of pain. "It's all right, it's all right, it's through."

Piper looked around, still waiting for the cupid to return with her ex-husband. But there was no sign of either of them and she could clearly see that the girl was losing her strength and fast. And if she died, then they were going to lose two people that they cared about; they would lose Jaina to death and Chris to his grief.

Her son was clearly losing himself to it already. "I'm sorry, Jaya," he whispered into Jaina's red hair. "I'm so sorry." He kissed her forehead, a single tear dropping onto one of his hands.

And Piper watched in utter amazement as a glow appeared on it, the glow that she had seen so many times from his father. The healing touch of a Whitelighter . . . "Chris," she whispered and he raised a bleak face towards his mother. "Look." She pointed.

He looked to where she was pointing and his jaw literally dropped open in shock. "What the . . .?" he breathed, eyes wide. Piper grinned and Phoebe and Paige looked relieved.

"Don't let go of that feeling," Paige warned him. "Just focus on it, let it flow through you."

"We're all here for you, sweetie," Phoebe told her nephew as she joined the three, kneeling down on Jaina's other side. "Don't be afraid, it's gonna be okay. She'll be okay."

Chris wasn't paying attention to his aunt, only focusing on his love for Jaina, holding his hands over her wound, watching in disbelief at the glow that emerged from them. Slowly, but surely, the wound disappeared and Jaina's eyes flew open, staring up at him.

"You okay?" he asked, helping her sit up. She looked all right, some of the colour was already coming back to her cheeks and the pain was gone from her eyes, but he needed to be sure.

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, I think so," she said, looking down at the wound. "How . . .?" Chris grinned weakly and shrugged.

"That's our nephew the Whitelighter!" Phoebe said proudly, hugging Chris from behind before running to Paige and pulling her into a hug. "We're going to be aunties again!"

Chris and Jaina only laughed. Piper smiled and shook her head, looking back towards her future son and foster daughter. "Okay, I think we should get out of here before Wyatt comes back," she said warily. She didn't want to think that the man that she'd seen attack and nearly kill Jaina was the same boy in the past that she'd given birth to, but there was no mistaking him, for he looked so much like Leo.

"Yeah, good idea," Chris said as he helped Jaina up. "The problem is that we don't have the spell that we used to get to the past. It's in the Book of Shadows."

"No, it's not," Jaina said triumphantly. "I tore it out of the Book when I stole it from him." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Chris, who looked down at the piece of papers. Then she looked towards Paige and Phoebe. "All right, you two need to tune it down a bit, because we have to get out of here. Celebrate when we get home."

"Or after I'm, oh, I don't know, actually conceived?" Chris suggested, raising his eyebrows towards his insane aunts.

"Technically, you have been conceived," Paige pointed out, gesturing towards him. "And born."

"All right, let's just get out of here," Piper said. "This time travelling thing is giving me a headache. We need to get back to manor." She frowned. "And what about that guy, Coop? Shouldn't we tell him to stop looking for Leo?"

"Oh, yeah, right," Chris said, looking skyward. "Coop!"

Almost instantly, the cupid materialised, looking harassed. "I swear, that father of yours is one of the most pigheaded—" he began, then saw Jaina standing next to Chris, completely healthy. "Jaina, wh—" Coop shook his head. "You know, on second thought, I don't really need to know."

All others in the room laughed. "Okay, well, we're gonna head over to the manor and get back to the past," Jaina told him. She walked over to him and hugged him tightly. Her foster uncle returned the hug. "Tell Patience hello for me, okay? And keep her and Patty safe."

"I will," Coop promised as he released her. He embraced his nephew quickly and gave quick hugs to the sisters, giving Phoebe a longer one than Paige and Piper. "Hurry, before he finds you guys." With a smile, he dematerialised.

"Think we can risk orbing to the manor?" Paige wanted to know, looking at Chris.

Her nephew shrugged. "I think that it's not going to make much of a difference. He'll be coming after us, anyway. Jaya, you feeling up to orbing?"

"Actually, you or Paige better take me," Jaina admitted. "Nearly dying twice in one day is a bit more than I can handle."

"Yeah, you're going have to explain what happened later," Chris said, looking at her severely.

"After we have a very, very long talk with your father, young man," Piper told him, placing her hands on her hips. Chris only grinned and laughed. It was so good to see his mom again and her knowing that she was his mom. Before, he had been nearly unbearable, being so close to her and yet so far. "I mean it."

"Sure thing, Mom," Chris said with a smile. "No problem." He took Piper's hand and Jaina's while Paige took Phoebe and they all orbed out, heading straight to the attic at the manor.

Almost the second that they orbed in, alarms started going off and demons shimmered into the manor. Chris blew up two of them, a trait that he'd inherited from his mother. Piper, likewise, made two of them explode and froze another. Phoebe levitated into the air and sent one flying into the air with a well-aimed kick. Paige orbed an energy ball into her hand and sent it towards the demon that conjured it. Jaina sent the last demon flying into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"The spell, quick!" Piper ordered.

Chris looked down at the piece of paper and began to read:

_Hear the words, hear the rhyme._

_Heed the hope within my mind. _

_Send me back to where I'll find_

_What I wish in place and time._"

(AN: Spell taken from "Chris-Crossed")

The Triquetra, which had already been drawn, no doubt to send Bianca back to their own time, glowed blue and white lights. Without waiting a second, the companions hurried into the time portal, returning to where they had come from.

More demons arrived seconds after the time portal had vanished, but all they found were two knocked out demons, one frozen one, and five vanquished ones. And the two that were knocked out and the one that was frozen wished they'd stayed that way when Lord Wyatt learned what had happened.


	13. Return of the Father

**In Love and War**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Thirteen: Return of the Father

Leo looked around as the portal opened up twenty years in the past and four women and one young man stepped out. He let out a deep sigh of relief. "Thank the gods, I was starting to get worried," he said, hurrying forward and hugging Piper tightly before looking around at the other two sisters and the witch-Whitelighters. "Did everything get taken care of?"

"So far," Chris admitted. "But Bianca or some other assassins might still be coming back after me." He looked around at the sisters. "So you guys are all right with me hanging around here, right?"

The looks that they gave him were enough of a reply. "Of course we're all right with you hanging around here, who are you kidding?" Phoebe demanded. "Both of you," she added to Jaina, who smiled. "And you, young lady, get off to bed; you look like you're about to fall asleep right here. Oh, you guys are so cute together!"

"You know, Penny was much worse than her," Chris said wryly when Jaina rolled her eyes at Phoebe.

"Like future mother, like future daughter," Jaina agreed under her breath, but the entire room heard her anyway.

"Jaina!" Chris sighed, but Phoebe's eyes went wide at the implications of what Jaina had meant by that and let out a shriek of delight, doing a little dance.

"Oh, come on, Chris, isn't it worth the look on her face?" Jaina wanted to know, smiling at her boyfriend. Toads, it was nice to finally apply that word to the one man that she had always wanted to apply it. This was a day that she would remember for the rest of her life; the day that she found out that the man she loved loved her back.

"No, it's not, Jaya, it's worth my cousin!" Chris retorted, giving her an exasperated look.

Leo was looking confusedly between the two time travellers and the sisters. "Okay, wait, what's going on?" he asked, looking a little lost. Piper looked slightly guilty; they had forgotten to give him the updates on what had happened in the future.

"Well, uh . . ." Piper looked helplessly towards her sister, Chris, and Jaina. "Chris is our son. Wyatt's little brother," she added when Leo's mouth dropped open.

"And I came back not to protect my brother from a demon but to stop a demon from turning him evil," Chris said quietly. There was no point in hiding what the sisters had learned in the future from Leo. They were bound to tell him eventually.

The Elder's mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally closed it, shaking his head as he tried to process the information. Chris took the opportunity to look towards Jaina. "You go and get some sleep," he told her firmly. "I'll wake you in a few hours."

"You can use my room, Jaina," Piper told her kindly.

With a sigh, Jaina surrendered to the inevitable, and left the room, heading to her foster mother's room and climbing onto the bed. She turned on her side, her eyes refusing to stay open any longer as she lay on the pillow and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, unlike she'd had in a very long time, with dreams of times that were in her past, yet this time's future, taking place. Times before the war, before Wyatt had turned, and before her entire world had shattered.

--

It was days later after Jaina had recovered her strength when she finally orbed to Golden Gate Bridge. Taking a seat onto the cool metal, she closed her eyes, searching for the one man that she needed desperately to talk to. But it wasn't the one that she'd been waiting her whole life for, but rather the one who should've been there for her.

"Dad?" she whispered, the word catching in her throat slightly. "Dad, if you can hear me, I need to talk to you." She waited for him, knowing somehow that he would come this time, even though he'd never even acknowledged her before.

Hearing the sound of orbs, Jaina looked around at the man who'd appeared and got to her feet, facing her father. William Cromwell was looking at her, as if expecting her to say something. But now that the moment had come, she wasn't sure what she wanted to say. She didn't know where to start with him.

"You feeling better?" William said at long last, surveying her. Jaina nodded without speaking. He gave a small nod, looking away towards the water below them. "Good."

"I never thanked you for saving me that day," Jaina blurted out. William glanced at her. "It's just that . . . I'm a little unclear on the why. Why now? Why would you come and help me now, after all this time? You've never even acknowledged me before, Dad. Why didn't you come and see me before, when I was little?" Jaina met her father's blue eyes fiercely, not looking away. There was no doubt in her mind that this was her father from the future, from her own time, not his past version.

William sighed. "Before I answer those questions, Jaina—and yes, I am going to answer them," he added with a smile, "I need you to tell me something first. What did your mother tell you about why I left?"

Jaina shrugged. "Not much," she admitted. "Just that you left the minute that you found out that she was pregnant."

"I suspected as much," William muttered, running his hands through his red hair. He gave her a rueful smile. "Your mother was one of the most disdainful witches that I had ever guided. I never should have left you with her, though it seemed to turn out all right, in the end. I can honestly say that you are one of the bravest and kindest girls that I have ever had the pleasure of encountering, Jaina."

The witch-Whitelighter turned red and looked down. "Well, I learned my manners from Piper," she pointed out.

"That's true," William mused. "From everything that Leo told me about her, she seemed to be quite a woman. Perhaps her future will be changed when you change it."

"I hope so," Jaina said, shivering a little when her mind traipsed back to the Event. She hated thinking about it, even for the smallest of seconds. "For all of our sakes. We need to keep the Charmed Ones alive for our future. It's probably the only way to stop Wyatt, if we can't save him."

"Most likely," William agreed, running his hand through his red hair that was just as auburn as his daughter's. He met Jaina's blue eyes for a moment, before looking over the horizon. "It's beautiful here," he commented, gazing at the city. Jaina looked at it, silently agreeing. "Jaina, my one regret was never raising you. If I could do it over again, then I do everything in my power to stay with you and keep you safe."

"Then why didn't you in this timeline?" Jaina demanded, placing her hands on her hips. She wanted answers, toads take it, and she was going to get them. The Whitelighter had spent over twenty years avoiding her and at the very least, she deserved an explanation! And that was all that she was really asking for.

William took a deep unsteady breath. "Your cousin Patience told me that you often pose as a Darklighter to spy on Wyatt's meetings," he said at last, surveying the girl. Jaina sighed and nodded. "Well, I did the same thing, Jaina. I was one of the few Whitelighters who didn't follow the pacifist path." He sighed. "During one of my espionages, I was discovered. Your mother and I had planend on getting married when I got back from the Underworld. Sometimes those espionages took days and sometimes even weeks.

"When I was found out, the demons kept me prisoner to Barbas and then later Wyatt, when he found out who I was. I think that he hoped that if he needed to, he would hold me hostage against you. It wasn't until about two weeks ago that I finally escaped with your Uncle Coop with some help Patience." Jaina remembered Coop telling her that he had been briefly captured by Wyatt and Patience had rescued him. "When I escaped, I told Patience who I was and she told me about you and what had happened between your mother and you. I assume that after I was captured, she found out that she was pregnant and thus cast you out, angry with me for leaving her with a child on her hands and one whose powers she didn't entirely understand."

Jaina took a deep breath, trying to pull this together in her mind. In some kind of strange way, it made sense. Her mother's hatred of her had begun a long time ago, almost as long as she could remember.

"Why did Wyatt want to keep you in order to hold you hostage?" she said at long last. She surveyed her father.

"Because he knew what the Elders knew," William said softly. "What I know." Jaina shook her head. "We knew that that you and Chris were meant to be together. And that your children would be even more powerful than Wyatt is. He wanted to ensure that you didn't end up together and have his children."

"What?!" Jaina half-shrieked, looking an astonishment at her father. "What are you talking about?"

William laughed. "Your union was long ago prophesied, just as Wyatt's birth was," he explained.

_"When the past meets the future,_

_a union shall be formed._

_Between two lovers, two travellers._

_Daughter of a pacifist, of a protector of the Innocent. _

_Born to an indifferent mother, but raised by a sister three._

_Son of the second daughter of sisters three._

_Be one of two brothers. _

_And from this union,_

_three children shall be born, _

_with power that the universe has never known._

_But from one of the two brothers of the second daughter,_

_one shall be evil, the other one good._

_If born to the evil brother, _

_the children shall be the destruction._

_If born to the good brother,_

_they will be the salvation."_

Jaina's mouth was open by the time that he had finished reciting the prophecy. "You mean that Chris and I were _supposed_ to end up together, sooner or later?" she demanded, astonished. "That the Elders knew that we would create the most powerful witches in the universe even more powerful than the sisters?"

"They knew that you were supposed to be the daughter that it referred to, although they weren't sure which brother it was referring to," William admitted. "But one thing was clear: the children would be by the brother that you chose. Wyatt knew this and wanted to make sure that if you did not choose him, then you and Chris would never be together."

All at once, Jaina understood. "Which entered Bianca," she said exasperatedly. William nodded, glancing up towards the heavens. "You're going back to the future now?"

William nodded. "Have to," he admitted. "My past self will become a Whitelighter in a couple of weeks and while you and Chris are supposed to be here, I'm not." He smiled. "Besides, somebody has to help Coop and Patience with the Resistance."

"Good point," Jaina acknowledged. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Chris orb onto the bridge and start to walk towards them, but he stopped when he saw William, his jade eyes narrowing slightly as he surveyed the Whitelighter. "Hey, Chris."

"What's going on?" Chris wanted to know, completing his journey and standing beside Jaina. "Who're you?" he asked, giving Jaina's father a searching look.

William only grinned. "I'm her father, young man," he responded. Chris raised his eyebrows and looked towards Jaina, who mouthed _I'll explain later_ at him. "I should be getting back now. You take care of my little girl," he told Chris.

"I always do," Chris told him, shrugging. William nodded and orbed out, leaving the two lovers on the bridge alone. Chris looked towards Jaina. "Your _father_?"

With a sigh, Jaina relayed the events of what happened after Bianca had attacked to him, finishing with, " . . . and I had to talk to him, Chris. I had to at least thank him for what he did. Plus, I needed to get some answers. Answers I've been waiting my entire life to know."

"Did you get them?"

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, I did," she answered, leaning her hand onto Chris's shoulder. "Chris, he didn't even _know_ about me. Mom never told him. Besides that, he had been captured by demons up until a few weeks ago." She sighed. "Besides, I can't really hold a grudge against him when he risked his own life to save mine."

Chris pulled her into his arms, holding her close. "I should've thanked him, too," he said softly, pressing his forehead against hers. "Every time I think about what happened in the future, it scares me, more than I've ever been scared. I love you so much, Jaya. I don't want to come that close to losing you ever again. If I lost you . . ."

"I know," Jaina whispered, brushing a stand piece of hair out of his face. "I know, Chris. Trust me, I know that I couldn't handle it if I lost you." She rested her head onto his chest, feeling his grip tighten around her. "Toads take it, Christopher," she murmured, "don't you ever be so stubborn again, all right? When you're in trouble, I need to know. You have to let me help."

She felt Chris nod against her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just . . . I thought that I could handle it. Forgive me?"

Jaina smiled, glad that things were back to normal between them. At least, as normal as it could be. "I'll think about it," she teased. Chris laughed.

With a lingering smile around his lips, Chris raised her chin so that she was looking directly at him. And he drew her even closer to him, his lips capturing hers in a long and passionate kiss, one that was more than just a kiss. It was pulling two friends closer together as lovers . . . and as soul mates.

_The End! _

Guys, thank you so much for the reviews and everything! I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing a sequel to this, but I'm thinking about it. It's either going to be about Chris and Jaina's kids or take place just after their wedding. Tell me what you guys think!

Lady Dawson


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